Train to Busan (2016)

To be very honest, I had never watched a zombie film in my entire life. I had heard about such films and also realized that mostly Hollywood produces such films. TRAIN TO BUSAN is an exceptional addition not just to the list of the best zombie apocalypse action thriller, but also to the list of best films of world cinema which portray human emotions in the most realistic and heart-touching way possible. Yes, it's that excellent.

TRAIN TO BUSAN is the first South Korean film to have a wide theatrical release in India. That attracted too. It was released in India in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. I watched the film first in Korean with English subtitles, and then in Hindi. And I realized that the film manages to convey its message and make you reciprocate emotionally for the film, whether you watch the dubbed version or the original version. The Hindi dubbing was good enough to add to the positive feel.

The art South Korean filmmakers know is how to add an emotional feel to different genres. Thus, TRAIN TO BUSAN is no exception as it makes you feel for every character. Gong Yoo takes his performance to a higher level and raises the bar for world cinema actors in the climax. He is extremely likable and excellent. Ma Dong-seok is brave, lively and energetic too. Jung Yu-mi impresses big time with her beautiful & emotionally active character. Kim Su-an is cute & impresses with her strong act in sequences which one can't expect from a child artist of her age. Other actors too deliver performances great enough to make you care for them.

The film's scale is big, and the visual effects are amazing. Cinematography is excellent and captures the locales & thrilling action sequences with plenty of intrigue, while also succeeding in sending chills down your spine through the emotional sequences. Thankfully, it's not an Indian film, otherwise filmmakers won't have rested without adding songs & unnecessary romance. Whatever you see in the film, looks very, very realistic. The tension is very well built and neither do you deviate from enjoying the film, nor does the film deviate from storytelling.

The story and screenplay are both excellent, and the editing is excellent. The only thing that disappointed me was the A certificate given to it by the Indian Censor Board called CBFC. Why? No nation of the world gave this film an 18+ rating except India & Malaysia. Leave Malaysian Certification system because they follow equal rules for all films Irrespective of the target audience. But in India, films with dozens of gory violence & bucket loads of vulgarity get a UA (PG) certificate. TRAIN TO BUSAN is a clean family entertainer despite the A certificate it has been subjected to. But it's not a mistake of the makers, so there was no flaw I found in the film.

Overall, TRAIN TO BUSAN is a must watch film for any movie enthusiast. Irrespective of language and nation barriers, the film deserves to be watched by one and all. And yes, I forgot to tell. This film was the first one that actually made me cry. No film before had compelled me to shed tears, but this film did. Even the emotionless will emote. Such strong is this film. Go, watch it with your family and enjoy it fully, along with respecting the safe life we have from zombies in reality.

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When I first started watching this, I was honestly expecting a horror/thriller. And yes, there were a lot of moments that had me at the edge of my seat — who's going to make it and who's not? The stakes always felt so high.

They got me so invested in all the characters and fleshed out the character development for pretty much everyone, which is really hard to do in a simple two hour movie. I was really emotionally connected to all the characters and yes, there was a lot of crying.

Essentially, this is so much more than a zombie movie. Yes, there are zombies and they freaked me out, but the story was so much more about human nature. There's a lot of social commentary about how the homeless is treated, about selfishness, about how easily distrust is sewn between one another...I felt a lot of references to Macbeth and Lord of the Flies when I was watching this — but with ten times the emotional impact.

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I just finished watching Train to Busan and I can say it's a pretty good movie.

Even though you may find some cliche ideas, the way the director made the movie it's really interesting. I wanted the supporting roles to have more depth, but overall the actors did a great job.

It's interesting to see how fear can change people and bring either the best or the worst in them. I think this is why the movie feels more real than others. Another plus for the movie is the evolution of the main character, Seok Woo. Even though at first he's selfish and self-centered, when his daughter's life is in danger (this is not a spoiler, you can see that even on the poster) he transforms into a courageous, selfless guy.

You get absorbed into the action from the start and it is unpredictable sometimes. It is one of the best movies I've seen in a while and I like the fact that the zombies can move fast - like running speed. This kept me on the edge of my seat a few times. At the end of the movie I kept asking myself what would I do if I were in that train - hopefully I'll never have to find out.

Even though the make-up is spot on and the actors can twist their bodies in very unnatural positions, I think the biggest minus to this movie is the CGI: sometimes it looks too 2D (I hope you'll understand this, I don't know how to put it) and it can be kind of funny. This is why you can't focus anymore on the dramatic action because you feel the urge to laugh seeing the bad CGI.

Overall I recommend this movie! I'm happy to see it's getting so much international attention ^_^

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This is by far the best zombie movie I have ever seen.

It's not hard to compare this movie to other zombie movies and fast notice the differences which makes this one stand out.

Location: most of the movie takes place on a train. The space is small and limited, which adds to the characters difficulties to adapt and survive.
Great characters: what I think is unusual in this genre is character development and a variety of fleshed out characters that makes sense. This is usually where I think most movies are lacking. I even cried watching this. Twice.
The special effects were great too.

Definitely a must watch in this genre.

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Boy...did Train to Busan prove me wrong...that another zombie film could be any good. There are two scenes early in the film which really says it all about the quality of the film making. Seok Woo is at his desk doing three things at once: on the phone with his estranged wife, berating his subordinate for questioning his decision, and having a meal of hamburger, french fries, and soda. Later, he enters his million dollar suite and his mother asks if he had had supper and Seok Woo replies, "More or less." A character portrait that's clear, to the point, and right under our noses without rubbing it in. Brilliant.

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I am a big horror movie fan so i was really excited to see this this movie and boy did it excite my expectations. While I am a horror fan I have never been that into zombie movies but this was exceptional in every possible way. Amazing script brought to life with incredible acting that works perfectly with the score. The biggest flaw a lot of horror films have is the characters but not this one, you were rooting for all the main cast. It was the only horror film that had me feeling so connected to these characters that I cried. I spent the last 10-15 minutes of this movie the first time I watched it just sobbing.

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One of the best zombie movies ever

In fact, this is perhaps the only Zombie movie to make me emotional. The story is easy to understand and it doesn't take much time to set up the plot. The character development is one of the best parts of this movie along with the struggle of emotions and the thrill. It has good VFX. Not the best but certainly better than average. The movie is never particularly scary but it is a thriller and a tragedy in my opinion. The ending is one of the best movie endings I have seen in a while. The pacing is really good and you can easily re watch it a lot of times without getting bored. One of the best movies ever made in the thriller/zombie genre.

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Great movie and d*mn I love what the zombies look like

I really liked the introductory scene as it gives you a little bit of backstory and the first creeps at the same time. I think the film wasn't trying to have the watcher on highest alert all the time but always gave some time between action-packed scenes to calm down again. Those scenes in between often seem to be a little cheesy but to be honest, who wouldn't be cheesy if they knew that any word they spoke could be their last. Others are plain horrifying, seeing - and realizing - what human minds can do when scared and under pressure. Seeing that a central topic of the film is a virus outbreak that causes people turning into zombies, it's not surprising that people are dying and turning into zombies. I'd say, don't watch the movie if you are sensitive to that. I also loved the kind of open ending, though I'm still wondering what happened to them afterwards.

I felt the actors be quite suitable for their roles. Also, I love how they made their characters seem so real. It sometimes was eerie to look at it. There also are a few characters that I grew to love: those two grandmas who gave me chills in their last few scenes, the dad caring for his daughter and putting her first throughout the whole train ride, the pregnant woman caring for the child when the dad wasn't around, and of course, the not-yet-dad who was always bickering with the dad, the cute guy who hesitated to face his teammates... Of course, there are some stereotypical characters but let's be honest, pretty much every movie, drama, book - every story has them.

The music was great as well. In some scenes, solely the music already gave me chills, other times it made me tear up in combination with what was on screen. Honestly, I can't tell why exactly I got that emotional, fact is, I did. All in all, I can say that I'm no professional, but I never thought that the music was sticking out like a sore thumb.

As most of the time, when I'm writing reviews, I already re-watched this movie. I thought that, compared to the first time I was watching it, it didn't lose much. The only thing I'm kind of sad about that this time I couldn't watch it with friends during a sleepover. This time, I was alone in my room, cuddling with my blanket and holding a pen and paper ready for taking notes. What I only realized this time around is that the zombies look great. I'm not particularly a fan of horror movies, but I mainly watched it because I knew I had loved it before and that I like some eerie atmosphere.



PS: don't watch it when you're (almost) drunk. At least, not if you're the type of drunk person who's always laughing. I am that type of drunk and, my dear friends who were with me when I saw the movie for the first time when I was 17, I'm sorry. I had never been drunk before, and Wodka mixed with orangeade was a little bit too tasty.

PS+1: I mainly re-watched the film because a friend told me to write another review and that's the only thing that I knew where to watch it that I wouldn't have had to spend more than 5 hours watching. But really, I don't regret it at all.

PS+2: I somehow can't find anything negative about this movie except that we have no idea about what happens afterwards. But that's just how this film is, so I can't justify a lower rating than 10 to myself.

PS+3: THERE'S A SEQUEL???

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Train to Busan is probably one of the best zombie films ever.

I've already watched it 3 times and this time I finally introduced it to my brother (who's not very familiar with SK cinema). I was right. He approves that this film is amazing.

While it is a zombie flick it actually has a lot of emotional scenes.
The first time I watched it I was sobbing when something *that is a spoiler* happened. It also has amazing pacing. You are never bored and constantly screaming at your screen "RUUUN!" "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" YOU ASSHOLE!" "OMG NOOOO!".

Also I want to give credit to the actors. Gong Yoo is one of my favorite SK actors but the best performance imo was definitely by the little girl. She is amazing.

So I recommend Train to Busan for everyone. If you want a fast paced film with a few emotional scenes and an ending you will not be prepared for :') this is for you. It's a fun time overall.

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This movie has been around since 2016. I remember there was a huge buzz around it but I'm someone who simply can't watch scary movies. Horror horrifies me lmao. So I put it off even though though everyone was saying good things about this movie. But this year I watched Goblin (this is the year I gave hyped shows a chance hahaha) and I absolutely fell in love with Gong Yoo so I knew I would eventually happen someday. Well, today was the day. I came across the script for this movie online (very random, I know) and all of a sudden I felt like watching it. I couldn't have made a better choice! Even though it broke my heart into tiny little pieces. I'll get into that later. For now I'll review each section of the drama and try to explain why I gave it 10 stars.

//FROM NOW ON THERE WILL BE SPOILERS//


Plot/Story: This is a prime example of a simple yet impactful story. The title made total sense and even though the zombies were VERY scary (amazing graphics, by the way), I do think this is more of a tragedy story with more of a human touch than a horror story full of scientific details to explain why the whole thing was happening. And I usually prefer when we have a full background story on how, when and why everything is happening but in this movie we only know it was somehow related to the main character's company and honestly, that was enough. And a sequel was announced so I'm sure we will find more about it when it comes out. But what we got was satisfactory and somehow genius. I don't remember crying this much over ANY movie, let alone a zombie movie hahaha. The screen writer and the director did a phenomenal job with the whole concept and totally deserve these 10 stars.


Cast/Acting/Characters: I knew what Gong You was capable of. But I was not expecting THAT. His character's development was amazing and his acting... wow. I don't have words to describe. When his character told his daughter "You have to look after yourself." but throughout the movie we see him helping others too... AAHHHHH WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIE *cries for two more hours*. I wasn't expecting him to die. But I have to admit it made the end even more impactful and heartbreaking. When the girl sings the song she was supposed to sing to her father at the beginning of the movie and that's how the soldiers know they're human.. I was fascinated with the little girl. Korean kids seem to have a lot of talent. But every main actor, as well as the support ones, did a fantastic job. It's really hard to describe what I'm feeling right now but usually, when you watch a horror or disaster movie, you're glad you aren't there, right? But this time, I caught myself thinking "What would I do if I was there? I would definitely throw that assh*le of a man out of that train's window!!! I wish I could be there to help them." which is, in the very least, extremely strange. The scariest parts didn't even have to do with the zombies (who were great, by the way!) but with the lack of humanity in some of the characters. While some progressed, others simply refused to change. And even though our main characters died, his death made him justice. It was beautiful. I want to watch every drama and movie with these actors in now!


Music: It fit SO well. I usually don't notice the music in movies but this time I couldn't help but think "Wow, this looks AND sounds pretty epic". Since I don't have anything to point out, I'll just give it 10 stars as well.



Rewatch value: I finished this 30 minutes ago and I already want to watch it again. I don't know what it is, but it makes you want to watch it, and watch it, and watch it... Even though my eyes are still wet from all the crying.


Yeah, this was 10000% the best horror movie I've even watched, and it's on my top 10 favorite movies of all times. I'm not a huge fan of movies (nor non-asian tv shows) but this one proved I sometimes should give it a go because it might surprise me. Truly amazing.

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