Thefilm premiered in the Midnight Screenings section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on 13th of May.[6][7][8][9] On 7 August, the film set a record as the first Korean film of 2016 to break the audience record of over 10 million theatergoers.[10][11]
The movie successfully launched the Train to Busan film series, with the animated prequel Seoul Station released in 2016 and a standalone sequel named Peninsula released in 2020. Another installment and an American-produced adaptation are also in development.
Fund manager Seok-woo is a cynical workaholic and a divorced father. His estranged daughter Su-an wants to spend her birthday with her mother Nayoung in Busan. Seok-woo sees a video of Su-an attempting to sing "Aloha ʻOe" at her singing recital and succumbing to stage fright as a result of his absence. Overcome with guilt, he decides to grant Su-an's birthday wish. The next day, they board the KTX 101 at Seoul Station, en route to Busan. Other passengers include Sang-hwa and his pregnant wife Seong-kyeong, CEO Yon-suk, a high school baseball team including player Yong-guk and his cheerleader girlfriend Jin-hee, elderly sisters In-gil and Jong-gil, and a traumatized homeless stowaway hiding in the bathroom. Before the train departs, an ill woman runs onto the train unnoticed. She turns into a zombie and attacks a train attendant, who also turns. The infection spreads rapidly throughout the train.
A blocked track at the East Daegu Station forces the survivors to stop and search for another train. Yon-suk escapes after pushing Ki-chul into the zombies. A flaming locomotive derails, separating the group and trapping Seok-woo, Su-an, Seong-kyeong and the homeless man underneath a carriage filled with zombies. Meanwhile, Yon-suk runs into Jin-hee and Yong-guk, pushing the former into a zombie in his attempts to escape. Heartbroken, Yong-guk stays with Jin-hee until she turns and kills him. The conductor starts a locomotive on another track but is also thrown to the zombies while trying to save an injured Yon-suk. Seok-woo finds a way out from under the carriage, but the escape route is shortly afterward blocked by falling debris. The homeless man sacrifices himself to buy time for Seok-woo to clear the debris, and he, Su-an and Seong-kyeong manage to escape onto the new locomotive.
After fighting off zombies hanging onto the locomotive, they encounter Yon-suk, who is on the verge of turning into a zombie and is begging for help. Seok-woo manages to throw him off but is bitten. He puts Su-an and Seong-kyeong inside the engine room, teaches the latter how to operate the train, and says goodbye to the former. In his final moments before he turns, he reminisces the moment of Su-an's birth, before throwing himself off the locomotive.
Due to another train blockage, Su-an and Seong-kyeong are forced to stop the train at a tunnel just prior to Busan. The two exit the train and continue following the tracks on foot through the tunnel. Snipers are stationed on the other side of the tunnel and are prepared to shoot at what they believe to be zombies, but they lower their weapons when they hear Su-an singing "Aloha 'Oe", in tribute to her late father.
The film is based on an original story created by Park Joo-suk. The team tried to reference the movements of the zombies in the game 7 Days to Die and the movements of the dolls from Ghost in the Shell, and also reviewed the movements of the nurses in Silent Hill.[12] The film was filmed in various stations from Daejeon, Cheonan and East Daegu.[12] The water deer in the movie was created using real videos of water deer and 3D modelling.[12] The scenery that is seen outside the train in the film was shot with an LED plate rear screen technique behind the set and by focusing on the characters.[12] The blood vessels of the zombies were drawn with an airbrush. The zombies were styled differently depending on the progress of the infection.[12]
It became the highest-grossing Korean film in Malaysia,[13] Hong Kong,[14] and Singapore.[15] In South Korea, it recorded more than 11 million moviegoers[16] and was the highest-grossing film of the year.[17]
Clark Collis of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the film "borrows heavily from World War Z in its depiction of the fast-moving undead masses while also boasting an emotional core the Brad Pitt-starring extravaganza often lacked," adding that "the result is first-class throughout."[20] At The New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis selected the film as her "Critic's Pick" and took notice of its subtle class warfare.[21]
In a negative review, David Ehrlich of IndieWire comments that "as the characters whittle away into archetypes (and start making senseless decisions), the spectacle also sheds its unique personality."[22] Kevin Jagernauth of The Playlist wrote: "[Train to Busan] doesn't add anything significant to the zombie genre, nor has anything perceptive to say about humanity in the face of crisis. Sure, it lacks brains, and that's the easy quip to make, but what Train To Busan truly needs, and disappointingly lacks, is heart."[23]
In 2016, British filmmaker Edgar Wright, director of zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead, highly applauded the film, personally recommending it on Twitter and calling it the "best zombie movie I've seen in forever."[24]
American distributor Well Go USA released DVD and Blu-ray versions of Train to Busan on 17 January 2017.[39] FNC Add Culture released the Korean DVD and Blu-ray versions on 22 February 2017. It is also available on Rakuten Viki and Amazon Prime Video streaming. The Indian version is a minute shorter than the original version due to a few violent zombie shots being censored.[citation needed]
In 2016, Gaumont acquired the rights for the English-language remake of the film from Next Entertainment World.[45] In 2018, New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster and Coin Operated were announced to be the co-producing partners for the remake, with Warner Bros. Pictures distributing worldwide, except for France and South Korea. Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto is in talks to helm the film, while Gary Dauberman adapts the screenplay and co-produces the film alongside James Wan.[46][47] In December 2021, the film's official title was revealed to be The Last Train to New York scheduled to be released 21 April 2023.[48] However, in July 2022, Warner Bros. removed the film off the release schedule[49] with Evil Dead Rise, another New Line Cinema film, taking its original release date.
It also helps that the acting in this movie is PHENOMENAL. I usually dislike child actors for either their cringe worthy overacting or their monotone underacting, I am looking at you Disney Channel. Kim Su-an however outdoes some American adult actors. The pure heartbreak on her face as she sees her father give himself up is far beyond her years and the fact that this kind of acting is what she is known for at the age of 12 still leaves me shocked. She acted her heart out plain and simple.
Yeon Sang-ho uses every part of the train, turning it into essentially a war zone. There is no part of the train that is safe but at the same time the train seems to be the only part that is safe. Doors, phones and chairs become weapons and cramped bathrooms become temporary safe zones.
Sang-ho changes the color scheme of the movie to reflect both the feelings and the environment the characters are in. On the train it is a bleak, dark and almost clinical environment. It represents the depressing nature of their situation.The few times they get out of the train the color scheme changes to brighter and warmer colors. There is still a dark cloud hanging over them, but a ray of hope is shining through.
Train to Busan is a movie that distinguishes itself from its competitors. It is a must watch for any horror, zombie or good movie fan. While there are places where we can clearly see the filmmakers trying to force the feelings of fear and sadness down our throats through music and slow takes, a commonality in most Korean media, the movie is so good that audiences will most likely overlook the obvious manipulation of emotion. Yeon Sang-ho is a perfect representation of what differentiates Korean media their western counterparts. He is able to perfectly blend character development, beautiful writing and music with unadulterated fear of what humanity can become when the world is ending.
Although there is Wi-Fi onboard the train, it provides a relatively weak connection due to the large amount of people using the Wi-Fi. Also, the Wi-Fi tends to go out when the train enters a tunnel, which often happens.
Stop by 'Flipbook Studio'! They are the only store in the world that create flipbooks! My group and I had a blast acting out a scene and then we came back to the store 15-20 minutes later and they had provided a physical flipbook for each of us.
Not only that, but the setting itself provides the perfect background for action sequences. Zombies falling over train chairs, slamming through compartment doors, and jumping off of the roof of the train cars are just a few of the examples of what we see.
Sometimes, movies tend to give us a bit of a break from the ongoing craziness of what is happening. For example, I feel that in every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, there is always a lull in the action for viewers to catch their breaths from the big CGI fights, to appreciate the story being told.
That moment speaks so many volumes. Not only is it proof of how far Su-an has grown, but it symbolizes her love of her dad, and her willingness to not be afraid anymore despite the fact that her father is now dead. It leaves a pit in the bottom of your stomach, but is such a great way to end the movie as a callback to the beginning.
A self-proclaimed nerd and lover of Game of Thrones\/A Song of Ice and Fire, Alexandra Ramos is a Content Producer at CinemaBlend. She first started off working in December 2020 as a Freelance Writer after graduating from the Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in English. She primarily works in features for movies, TV, and sometimes video games. (Please don't debate her on The Last of Us 2, it was amazing!) She is also the main person who runs both our daily newsletter, The CinemaBlend Daily, and our ReelBlend newsletter. "}), " -0-10/js/authorBio.js"); } else console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); Alexandra RamosSocial Links NavigationContent ProducerA self-proclaimed nerd and lover of Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire, Alexandra Ramos is a Content Producer at CinemaBlend. She first started off working in December 2020 as a Freelance Writer after graduating from the Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in English. She primarily works in features for movies, TV, and sometimes video games. (Please don't debate her on The Last of Us 2, it was amazing!) She is also the main person who runs both our daily newsletter, The CinemaBlend Daily, and our ReelBlend newsletter.
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