The follow-up to everyone’s favorite tear-jerker zombie movie has proven that the makers of Train to Busan 2: Peninsula are more interested in chasing tropes than telling worthwhile stories.
The original Train to Busan was met with wide critical acclaim, but I failed to see the appeal. The film has a great premise: a zombie outbreak taking place on a high-speed train. However, its story goes in a bland, overly sentimental direction. In essence, it is just a low-quality Snowpiercer (2013) with zombies. In Train to Busan 2: Peninsula, the same writer/director/producer team return to offer up an even worse rip-off.
The second installment takes place shortly after the events of the original film. None of the same actors or characters return, but I never found myself missing them. Our story begins with a family trying to reach a nearby ship to leave the zombie-infested peninsula (South Korea). Space is limited and thousands of people clamber to make it on the ship. During the ensuing chaos, our protagonist, Chul-Min (Do-Yoon Kim), heads to the ship with his wife, their young son, and Chul-Min’s brother-in-law, Captain Jung-Seok (Gang Dong-Won).
Onboard the ship, one of the injured passengers turns into a zombie. Subsequently, he infects several others in the tiny medical bay, including Chul-Min’s son. The mother refuses to leave her son, even as he and others transform into zombies around her. Jung-Seok must seal off the medical bay as Chul-Min watches his wife and son turn into the undead.
When word travels to Hong Kong about a truck containing $20 million USD, the local mob boss contracts a team of mercenaries to retrieve it.
Four years later, Chul-Min and Jung-Seok live in squalor in the underworld of Hong Kong. Due to their ethnicity, they are shunned by the locals. Nobody wants to deal with people from the “peninsula,” as they could still carry the virus. As a result, the pair have gone into a life of crime to sustain themselves.
When word travels to Hong Kong about a truck near the South Korean port containing $20 million USD, the local mob boss contracts Chul-Min, Jung-Seok, and a team of mercenaries to sail to South Korea, obtain the funds, and return. Naturally, things don’t go exactly as planned when they arrive. As it turns out, zombies do not pose the only threat on the South Korean peninsula.
The basic premise of Train to Busan 2: Peninsula isn’t altogether original. It borrows heavily from films like Escape from New York (1981). However, the film verges on copyright infringement in the second act. The team’s first encounter with the truck does not end well. Rather than a quick “grab-and-go” job, they find themselves stranded amid a sea of zombies and a post-apocalyptic compound of survivors. At this point, the film blatantly steals from Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). Unfortunately, Train to Busan 2 doesn’t have the budget to support the same kind of high-octane thrill ride. As a result, we just have a less than impressive copycat that lacks any sense of originality.
The script makes frequent use of English, despite the fact that many of the actors clearly do not speak the language.
Many of Peninsula’s faults would be forgivable if it didn’t follow the same missteps as the first film. The filmmakers really want to push the importance of the family unit. However, the execution makes the movie feel grimy, in spite of the ostensibly conservative themes. More specifically, director Yeon Sang-Ho seems obsessed with showing little girls crying ad nauseam, which is questionable enough in its own right. When viewed in this light, both Train to Busan and Train to Busan 2 lose much of their “wholesome” appeal.
Even if you ignore the blatant visual and narrative ripoffs and the unseemly use of children, the film is deadset on taking advantage of every Hollywood cliche in the book. Yes, Peninsula is a South Korean film made outside of the Hollywood system, but it tries its best to emulate a Hollywood film in every way possible. The script makes frequent use of English, despite the fact that many of the actors clearly do not speak the language. This results in dialogue that is both unnecessary and difficult to understand.
Train to Busan 2: Peninsula constantly chases after tropes and cliches that do not result in a cohesive narrative.
This isn’t a repudiation of the Korean, Chinese, and Hong Kongese actors, either. The English-speaking segments that feature Western actors are some of the most unwatchable parts of the whole film. It seems as though the casting director just wanted to go with locals or low-cost actors. I genuinely believe they went to the nearest schools in search of English teachers to fill the roles. While I can overlook some of the bad acting done by Asian actors, it’s much harder to look at English-speaking “actors” who have no ability to convey real emotion or get into their characters.
Finally, Train to Busan 2: Peninsula constantly chases after tropes and cliches that do not result in a cohesive narrative. The film ties up the loose ends, but it has to use insane mental gymnastics just to get there. The finale alone requires several unbelievable coincidences just to make sense. Consequently, the film will likely prove too ridiculous for even the most diehard fans of the genre.
In short, Train to Busan 2: Peninsula may have a few moments of quality zombie-filled action, but its shortcomings make this a poor second showing in an already mediocre franchise. If you want to watch martial arts zombies and CGI hordes sprinting after vehicles, then maybe Peninsula will work for you. Unfortunately, for most viewers, this sequel showcases the absolute worst that the zombie genre has to offer.
Train to Busan 2: Peninsula (2020) Movie Rating: ★ out of 5
If you’d like to watch Train to Busan 2: Peninsula (2020), the film is currently available to rent or purchase via Amazon. You can also stream the movie for free on Shudder. Finally, if you’d like to read more film reviews like this one, be sure to check out the Philosophy in Film homepage!