‘Train to Busan’ Movie Review
Almost everyone has at least seen one or two zombie movies, and almost everyone has seen the Walking Dead, or at least watched a few seasons, or maybe even caught up to the latest one. Since I’m a big fan of zombie-apocalyptic movies, I had to give this one a go, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Zombie movies usually contain that post-apocalyptic plot we, as watchers, are all too familiar with: a world littered with the undead after some sort of outbreak or an epidemic.
Although ‘Train to Busan’ is no different in terms of the all too familiar outbreak plot, the movie does contain a uniqueness to it that includes trains — survival whilst stuck inside a moving train, to be specific.
‘Train to Busan’ is a 2016 South Korean film starring renowned actor Gong Yoo. Due to him being part of the cast, this movie received a lot of hype and millions of fans were excited to see him play the role of a father protecting his child from disaster.
The film features an estranged relationship between father and daughter who, after the spreading of an outbreak that causes people to morph into a zombie state, both get trapped inside a train with other passengers. Together with these passengers, the two family members try to survive until they reach Busan — the only city that has triumphed against catastrophe.
Even though I’ve already seen the film once, I decided to watch it again and I found that re-watching it still had me on the edge of my seat gripping my mug while I imagined the worse that could happen (although I already knew how it was going to end…).
It seemed to continuously evoke adrenaline rush, if that was even possible while watching a film, and a constant stream of “Just run!” flowing from my mouth, especially when everyone realised that there was a person on-board who had been infected by the outbreak.
There were scenes that were scarily gripping and thrilling during the film, specifically when one character was trying to catch a moving train, and the main character and his two companions travelling from one carriage to another situated closer to the back of the train in order to save their loved ones. In between these carriages were a sea of infected people waiting for prey. The trek back was even more nerve-wracking to watch.
Of course, with a zombie movie people take into account the decency of the effects. Together with the cast and the story-line, the effects are perfect enough to induce a state of panic not just from the people in the film, but also from the audience watching. The action, particularly the fight scenes, add to this rise of panic since the audience is rooting for these characters to survive.
Although this movie focuses towards the survival of these characters, antagonists exist due to the influence of fear , and situations occur where one would question their hope in humanity. There’s a particular scene after saving their loved ones where they try to retreat back to the carriage every surviving individual is in, but these people refuse to let them enter because of their fear that one could be infected — they didn’t want to end up having the same fate as the other infected passengers. Fear ruled their reasoning and they didn’t even give them a chance to prove otherwise. Because of this — spoiler alert — one companion ended up getting infected.
There are multiple lessons present in this film fused with the slashing of zombies and the spurting of blood. It’s not just about survival, but also about daily human lives and raw emotion, which makes you think that old age question: what makes us human?
Re-watching this film made me more aware of the types of people in this world, and the lessons that we can relate to real life:
1. We can’t always focus on work — this could result in neglecting those important to us, as well as our own health and wellbeing.
2. People, if we decide to be honest for once, have selfishness tucked away, and sometimes, that comes out during specific situations. In the case of the film, selfishness is present when a life-threatening situation arises, and it’s a matter of whether you let that win over you. In the end, if you choose to be selfish, it will thrust a sword in your back.
3. We should appreciate the people in our lives and our life in general. Change is inevitable, and we never know when our lives could drastically change — we don’t know when we’ll leave this world, so we don’t want to have regrets when we grow older.
4. There will always be people who could negatively impact your life. Just like the antagonists in this film, our own lives have antagonists too and how we deal with them is up to us. We either let them affect us, or we live our lives without giving them a care in the world. What would you do?
5. We should help those in need if possible, and if it’s also within our capability. I’d like to think that goodness still thrives in this world with people who echo actions similar to the Good Samaritan’s. We don’t really know who’ll be there to help us in times of adversity, and if you empathise to put yourself in other people’s shoes, it would feel horrible if there was no one to help you during times of trouble. It emphasises the saying: treat others as you would like to be treated.
Since this movie doesn’t just focus on the action, the storyline has some complexity and people can learn from these hidden moral lessons, which I found touching.
However, beware of the ending.
(I recommend you have buckets ready).
