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“Train to Busan” Is A Survival Movie That Gives Us Hope In Humanity
Warning: this review will spoil the movie.
The other day, my friends and I watched “Train To Busan,” a Korean zombie horror-thriller about a negligent hedge fund manager father, Seok-Woo, and his daughter, Su-an, and their quest for survival in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Su-an’s parents are divorced On the way, Seok-woo and Su-an encounter a fighter and his pregnant wife, a homeless man, and a high school baseball player and his girlfriend. All members of this group work together, put their lives at risk, and sacrifice for each other to help each other survive to the next safe point.
Although the “World War Z”-like zombie apocalypse theme is certainly not something I’d never seen before, the execution of “Train to Busan” in its development of its main characters and exploration of class allegory made the movie stand out above any other zombie apocalypse movie I’ve ever seen.
For me, the most compelling part of the movie was the change, growth, and development of protagonist Seok-Woo. According to historian film-maker Ken Burns, a successful and complicated story will always have flawed heroes and compelling villains, and that is certainly the case in Seok-Woo. In the words of critic Helen O’Hara, he “emerges as a resourceful, determined lead, growing from a disengaged…
