Train to Busan 2: Peninsula (2020)

A total disappointment... Don’t watch this with an expectation as high as Train to Busan...

I’ve read a couple of reviews regarding this movie, and many were disappointed. I thought that it wouldn’t be that bad since Kang Dong Won and Lee Jung Hyun are going to act as the main characters, but... I was wrong. It was THAT BAD.

The movie started of okay for me, but it gets super boring in the middle until the end. Even the ending was super slow and the whole storyline was quite absurd. It could’ve been made shorter, but instead it was a whole 2 hours of movie.

Overall, a 5/10. I don’t think I’m going to rewatch this movie ever again...

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If you want to watch/ BUY this movie read the reviews first!

So, my mistake here is that I did not read the reviews, and went ahead and bought the CD the moment I laid my eyes on it. Since everyone was all about Train to Busan sequel, I really thought this was going to continue the story, however it has absolutely no relevance to Train to Busan, which sucks because Train to Busan was a phenomenal movie and i’d rewatch it all over again, we didn’t get to see how the story really ended either.

What happened to the girl? The pregnant lady? Busan? This movie will not give you any of these answers other than that the entirety of Korea has been infected. This movie shouldn’t even be called a sequel, it’s a totally different movie. Zombies weren’t even that big here, it was more human VS mad abandoned humans- which isn’t bad at all. I actually enjoyed this movie; just extremely disappointed because it did not contribute to the original story of Train to Busan.

I don’t think I’d like to rewatch it either, it’s a good movie but man, killing characters isn’t going to make a story good. If you like zombie movies, I guess this is a good one, however just know that it has absolutely no story continuing.

Characters where badass too and soundtrack was great.Their outfits were cool, and the whole movie’s color scheme was breathtaking.

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Mad Max meets zombies

I had high expectations for this movie considering how its former film was THE movie everyone raved about during its time but sadly, I was disappointed. The story was pretty basic tho they had the creative freedom to make a post-apocalyptic world into something completely out of the box. For some reason they focused a lot more on car chasing instead of re-writing a better story for it. They obviously tried to get the audience to empathize with the characters to break their hearts when they die like what they did with the first movie but since it was so predictable, it didn't have much impact. The acting and editing was spot on but the rest was just meh. I'd rather watch Train to Busan again than rewatch this.

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"Escape From New York" returns to the Zombie Genre

[Written/Watched 24 Dec, 2020 on Letterboxd]

Right off the bat, "Peninsula" feels like an appeal to the more action-oriented audience of the zombie genre and Western (white) audiences (with the irritating presence of white actors, calling the undead 'zombies' instead of some precious in-universe nickname, our protagonist being a military dude).

In that sense I do feel like it doesn't understand what made "Train to Busan" and "Seoul Station" so appealing to everyone back in 2016. (It wasn't the action, but how it chose to tell its story from the perspective of civilians, all while subtly criticizing South Korea's classism, privatization, and the treatment of the homeless.)

On the other, this is just director Yeon Sang-ho choosing to do something different whilst appealing to the market. "Peninsula" and the "Beyond the Thunderdome meets Resident Evil 4" vibe just feels like the inevitable fate of most zombie genre stories. And that's not a bad thing if you don't hold the zombie genre in some high esteem (especially almost twenty years since its resurgence as power genre in 2002).

And for all of that, "Peninsula" never veers into the tired and violent territory of "The Walking Dead" or other serialized zombie dramas that became parodies of themselves (because capitalism demands franchises continue beyond sustainability). The movie knows how to have fun with the genre, and revels in its silliness more than anything. (Nothing proves this more than the wild car chases where the two kids outsmart both the zombies and mad ex-military goons with some "Tokyo Drift"-level driving.)

The themes of "Busan" and even "Seoul" remain (community vs. individualism, capitalism and militarism exploiting and dehumanizing the disadvantaged), expanded to a broader, actiony scale. The humans know to work together to survive, but most still fall victim to the zombies and their own violent tendencies, wrapped up in material and military nostalgia of a world still killing itself for both.

Considering our central character really isn't given a moment to be before he's thrown into the deep-end of angst and a tragic past (a dead family, sans a brother-in-law), the film sets up the expectation of simply not expecting much from its motley crew of characters.

None of them are terrible per-se, and the film certainly tries to center their humanity above all else. But they're definitely more archetypal than the casts of "Seoul" and "Busan", who seemed determined to rise above their types and leave their audiences talking about them for days after.

Basically, more time is spent getting the characters from A-to-B than actually developing the characters so that their actions matter once the destination is reached. It doesn't earn that melodramatic Deus Ex "Resident Evil" ending (zombies respectfully maintaining their distance from the chopper as it rides off into the sunset).

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La verdad es que Tren a Busan me gustó mucho y cuando me enteré que sacarían una segunda parte, no cabía en mí de la emoción. Sin embargo, como siempre pasa con los coreanos, las segundas partes nunca fueron buenas…Me explico, porque la película en sí me gustó.
Esta segunda parte no estaba planeada desde un principio. Pero debido al gran éxito que tuvo Tren a Busan, decidieron hacer una segunda parte, esperando que consiguiera el mismo éxito que la primera, pero no fue así. La verdad es que se sabe que esta es la segunda parte de Tren a Busan porque te lo dicen y porque están en un país lleno de zombies porque esa es la única similitud con la primera parte y eso fue lo que hizo que no me gustara, aunque también entiendo que es un poco complicado seguir con la historia de Tren a Busan cuando terminó como terminó, por eso era un poco complicado que hicieran bien una segunda parte.
Sin embargo, como una película de zombies normal sí que me gustó porque te ofrece la adrenalina típica de estas historias. Por lo tanto, si has visto Tren a Busan, yo te animaría a verla, eso sí, sin muchas expectaciones. O si te gustan las películas de zombies, también te animaría a verla, no es la mejor película que he visto, pero tampoco está mal

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A Great Action Zombie Movie!

I couldn't resist, and decided to write a review on this underrated movie. Honestly I don't understand why it received so much hate; because it's actually very good.
Many people compared Peninsula to Train to Busan, meanwhile although they're slightly linked, they're completely different plot wise and cast.
Train to Busan targets more of a psychological genre, and the relations between people, whilst Peninsula is more of an action packed movie.
If you're currently in that stage, wondering whether or not you should give this movie a try, do it, watch it. Trust me, you won't be disappointed! The amount of negative reviews also put me off from watching this movie, but I'm so glad I still gave it a chance nevertheless!
Peninsula is honestly very entertaining and worth a watch. I loved the cast, the acting was outstanding, and of course the plot didn't disappoint itself.
Plus it has a more positive ending, compared with Train to Busan.
Either way, give it a go!

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