A Review of “Peninsula (2020)”

 

AKA “Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula” is a standalone sequel to one of the best zombie movies in decades “Train to Busan”. When I first heard they were making a sequel and that director “Yeon Sang-ho” will return to direct the sequel I was thrilled. The film synopsis is that “It’s been four long years since the catastrophic events of Train to Busan (2016), and a virulent zombie outbreak sweeps South Korea from end to end. Now, on the carcass of the levelled city of Incheon, the guilt-ridden former Marine Captain, Jung-seok, embarks on a suicide mission to locate a truck carrying bags crammed with $20 million in cash, along with a trio of equally reckless fortune seekers”.  The trailer for this movie is completely different from the first movie and the director calls it a “standalone sequel” so i’m going to try and avoid any comparison to the first movie.

Usually, I start with the praises but this time I’m going to start with the negatives because this movie has a lot of flaws. The characters in this movie are just not that interesting. Jung-seok (Gang Dong-won), who is the main lead, is the most interesting as he is grieving the loss of his sister and is quite suicidal in this movie as he always puts himself at risk for the sake of others. However, he doesn’t go through any dramatic character arc until right at the end and it isn’t even that huge of a change. He is a cool-headed, badass shooting dude throughout the whole movie and even by the end is still that.  The supporting characters are just the most over the top cartooney characters who are really lacking in any depth. I don’t want to blame the actors but every single actor portrays their character in a really outlandish way that makes me cringe. The villains are especially outlandish and it just feel like they are right out of Mad Max (which might be the director’s intention). There is one grounded support character Min-jung (Lee Jung-hyun) who has a connection with the main lead but she is a very one note character unfortunately.

A gripe I have is the so-called “emotional moments”. They are just not emotional whatsoever and if anything really feels like they force it upon the viewers. The movie wants us to feel sad when a character dies but when the character themselves are uninteresting then it just doesn’t work. On that note, the deaths and twist are very predictable. You can probably guess a majority of them so even the story isn’t going to surprise you or anything.

A majority of this movie contains a lot of car chases which are all entirely CGI including the zombies and they are not very good either. These scenes make it seem like you’re watching a PS2 cutscene. The zombies are also not scary and they just get powered through with ease. Also, a problem that is also in the first movie is that characters make dumb decisions. It range from not killing someone or just not checking the back of a truck. They’re usually done because the plot demands it but that can really pull you out of the movie because it feels really silly.

If I have any praise for the movie its the John Wick style of shooting in this movie which is pretty cool to be fair. There are some shootout scenes with zombies or humans that are visually pleasing to watch. While I do bash the PS2 CGI car chase, it is so ridiculous that it is kind of entertaining to watch. Additionally, the last act of the movie is predictable but still watching it was a nice moment. The movie also delves into some interesting aspects in terms of world-building. For example, there is racism against South Korean because of the infection and even the rest of the world’s reaction to South Korea zombie plague.

Overall, the movie is nothing compared to “Train to Busan”. It does nothing new with the zombie genre and has none of the charms from the first movie. However, if you think of it as just Mad Max with zombies then there is some fun to be had here. It does feel like a B movie but it’s a pretty entertaining B movie. Just don’t think of it as a sequel to the legendary “Train to Busan” and you can probably avoid the disappointment.