Jimbo
03-16-2017, 08:33 AM
I impulse bought the DVD on sale while shopping, never having heard of it before. I never even checked out the trailers online before watching it. Finally got around to watching it and, IMO, this is the best zombie movie I've ever seen (or top 2). Certainly superior to any American zombie movie since the original 1978 Dawn of the Dead. And in many ways it's better than that.
The strength of this movie is in its (still-) human characters. The zombies are merely the frame, and the surviving characters are the picture; which is the opposite of many zombie or horror movies in general. I would classify this as a combination action/horror movie, with the general feeling being more of the former than the latter. I didn't find it 'scary' per se. It's the typical image of the screaming, running zombies that came into vogue since the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake. One could say that it actually started with 2002's 28 Days Later, but that wasn't technically a 'walking dead' zombie movie.
I've never seen a zombie movie that truly brought up the emotions of the survivors in the way Train to Busan does, and the way your feelings about the characters can change during the course of the movie. I recall my acting coach telling us, "A truly GOOD characterization is one that changes. He or she is not the same person at the end as at the beginning." I don't know if that's always true across the board, but it certainly happens in this movie, especially with the main character. Train to Busan also features one of the most convincingly despicable movie villains I've seen in a long time.
TBH, I've not been much of a fan of 'running, screaming zombies'. I've always found the slow, silent, wobbly zombies somehow creepier (if not as potentially lethal). But I've made an exception for this movie, big-time. I would never have expected such a great zombie movie to come out of South Korea. This movie provides tension, emotion, and high-speed action, with never a dull moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2nrE9JnaDg&sns=em
The strength of this movie is in its (still-) human characters. The zombies are merely the frame, and the surviving characters are the picture; which is the opposite of many zombie or horror movies in general. I would classify this as a combination action/horror movie, with the general feeling being more of the former than the latter. I didn't find it 'scary' per se. It's the typical image of the screaming, running zombies that came into vogue since the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake. One could say that it actually started with 2002's 28 Days Later, but that wasn't technically a 'walking dead' zombie movie.
I've never seen a zombie movie that truly brought up the emotions of the survivors in the way Train to Busan does, and the way your feelings about the characters can change during the course of the movie. I recall my acting coach telling us, "A truly GOOD characterization is one that changes. He or she is not the same person at the end as at the beginning." I don't know if that's always true across the board, but it certainly happens in this movie, especially with the main character. Train to Busan also features one of the most convincingly despicable movie villains I've seen in a long time.
TBH, I've not been much of a fan of 'running, screaming zombies'. I've always found the slow, silent, wobbly zombies somehow creepier (if not as potentially lethal). But I've made an exception for this movie, big-time. I would never have expected such a great zombie movie to come out of South Korea. This movie provides tension, emotion, and high-speed action, with never a dull moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2nrE9JnaDg&sns=em