[Herald Review] Not much left alive in ‘Train to Busan’

Director Yeon Sang-ho’s apocalyptic thriller “Train to Busan” is something of a cross between Bong Joon-ho’s dystopian film “Snowpiercer” and the zombie flick “World War Z” starring Brad Pitt.

In the movie, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival’s Out-of-Competition category in May, viewers are presented with a racing train on which an outbreak of a virus causes those infected to instantly turn into flesh-devouring zombies. Passengers fight for their lives, compartment by compartment, as the bloodthirsty undead attack.

One of the film’s highlights is clearly the job done by the special effects team, led by Kwak Tae-yong. The zombies are possibly even more grotesque and demented than the feral creatures featured in “World War Z,” contorting maniacally and drooling blood as they ravage their victims.

The film lacks, however, in its emotional arc. Its stabs at social satire are blunt and incomplete.

Fund manager Seok-wu (Gong Yoo) is bogged down by the demands of his job, separated from his wife and struggling to connect with his young daughter Su-an (Kim Su-an). When Su-an begs to see her mother, who lives in Busan, the father and daughter head for the port city via train.

On board are the pregnant Seong-kyeong (Jung Yu-mi) and her beefy husband Sang-hwa (Ma Dong-seok); a high-school baseball team consisting of Young-guk (Choi Woo-shik) and the vivacious manager Jin-hee, played by the ex-member of K-pop group Wonder Girls. 

As the train paces along, the zombie virus begins to spread among passengers. The infection soon spreads throughout the country, and government officials go on air to blindly assure the public that “everything is under control.” This is apparently a reference to the Korean government’s lackluster responses to various crises over the years, including the outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome here in 2015. But this is where the satire begins and ends.

As for the characters, director Yeon wanted to create a motley crew that represented “the lower class,” he told reporters after the film’s press screening in Seoul on Tuesday.

“I wanted them to be everymen. I wanted their actions to be those that we witness every day,” he said.

True to his intentions, the characters are flawed -- perhaps with the exception of Sang-hwa, who is as selfless as he is burly. The protagonist Seok-wu, however, initially responds to catastrophe in much the same way as he reaped success in life -- by calculating his own interests.

Some of the passengers eventually team up, while others remain irredeemably self-serving. Families reconcile and new bonds are forged, but the character developments fail to be convincing or nuanced enough to be moving.

Action wise, aspects of the train, from its sliding doors and bathroom stalls to the luggage compartments, are put to full use. The production crew had to be creative in order to construct impressive scenes with a budget of 8.5 billion won ($7.45 million), Yeon said. The thrill of the train ride is salvaged, but little else is.

“Train to Busan” opens in local theaters on July 20.

By Rumy Doo (doo@heraldcorp.com)