Train to Busan (15)
four stars
Dir: Yeon Sang-ho
With: Yoo Gong, Soo-an Kim
Runtime: 118 minutes
STOP me if you’ve been on this train before – mysterious virus attacks city, turns citizens into zombies, cue running, screaming, gnawing at necks and general frenzy. Yes, Train to Busan has all of that, but for its wit, style, pace and sheer inventiveness, this is one zombie movie worth hunting down this weekend.
Single parent Seok Woo is a fund manager living in Seoul with his daughter Soo-an (Soo-an Kim). Soo-an wants to visit her mother in Busan, so workaholic Seok Woo opts reluctantly to take her. All appears normal as the journey gets underway, save for that sick person who has just scrambled on board …
What is marvellous about animator-turned-features director Yeon Sang-ho’s live action debut is the way he cues up cliches only to demolish them. There is a lot of running away from zombies, for example, but how does one do this on a moving train? Just as satisfying are the well fleshed-out characters, from the cynical first time dad to the hard-faced businessman who does not want to share the first class compartment with anyone, and to heck with the murderous horde on the loose.
Sang-ho over-eggs the pudding at times (there are some distressing scenes) and the score is jarring, but this picture flies by like a bullet train.
Glasgow Film Theatre; Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow, and Aberdeen; Cameo, Edinburgh.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here