Review of Train to Busan (2016) by Johnny T — 08 Oct 2016

Train to Busan delivers a thrillingly unique -- and purely entertaining -- take on the zombie genre, with fully realized characters and plenty of social commentary to underscore the bursts of skillfully staged action. Breathless and brutal, the film is akin to someone smashing together 28 Days Later with Snowpiercer and then convincing Mad Max's George Miller to help out on some of the action scenes. Far more than just a series of slaughterings, the film transports its audience through an emotional voyage that provides some deadly fun with emotionally charged drama. With this high-budget blockbuster, Yeon brings in a skilfull staging of sudden, irrepressible savagery of this unnatural disaster. It's a zombie movie that, amidst the giddy bloodshed, allows room for philosophical questions about our fundamental responsibilities to one another. It may not be something we've never seen before, but it's something we can benefit from seeing again. The film's zombies-on-a-train premise delivers plenty of bloody violence and breathless action, punctuated by social commentary, strong characters and a heavy dose of melodrama. This is the film that World War Z should have been. The most purely entertaining zombie film in some time. A cracking good time at the movies. Inventive, even daring, and barely a predictable moment in its 118 minutes.

VERDICT: "High-Quality Stuff" - [Positive Reaction] This is a rating to a movie I view as very entertaining and well made, and definitely worth paying the full price at a theatre to see or own on DVD. It is not perfect, but it is definitely excellent. (Films that are rated 3.5 or 4 stars).