A phenomenal smash upon its initial success, director Yeon Sang-ho scored unprecedented success among genre fans across the world with his original film “Train to Busan“, offering some of the first hints that South Korean cinema housed untapped talent for the world. The time since has seen scores of films from other directors get released with that same level of prestige and acclaim, including the country's first Oscar for Best Picture with Bong Joon-ho's Parasite. Now, four years after the initial release, Sang-ho returns for his anticipated and highly-awaiting follow up to be released in cinemas August 7 by WellGo USA.
With the virus still rampant in South Korea, Jung-suk (Gang Dong-won) is among the last of the natural-born citizens to leave the virus ravaged country before it was completely cut-off and quarantined from the rest of the world. Four years later, he is asked to return to lead an expedition looking for a lost fortune left behind during the mass exodus from the country. Trying to maneuver undetected through the countryside, they get split up during an attack causing most to get killed, a survivor to get captured by the deadly Unit 631 to use as bait in a series of zombie games for entertainment and Jung-suk to get taken in by a family of other survivors he originally left behind. Realizing the severity of the situation, he risks his friends to free his team from their grasp while trying to avoid the zombies in the area.
Overall, “Peninsula” is every bit as enjoyable as its prequel. This comes mostly from the stellar mixture of heart and action which was so prominent in the first film. The introduction to this early on, with Jung-suk twice forced to make harsh decisions that seal the fate of various people that are clearly deserving of help but the choice of not risking the health of the people he's around forces him to leave them behind to die.
Knowing that both situations involve a child during the apocalypse is automatically triggering, while the devastating emotional result of those scenes is quite familiar, which allows them to resonate quite well. The setup we get with the family and their grandfather while Jung-suk recuperates offers up some heartwarming moments as well with all the time we spend getting to know their dynamics and getting an idea about their future outcome.
In addition to the heart and soul, the action here is incredibly fun. The zombie attacks are just as ferocious and vicious as before, bending and contorting themselves and running after their prey at high speeds. Leaping over barricades or other protective measures meant to keep them out, the athleticism and daring abilities they originally demonstrated is still employed here, which is not only terrifying but adds a nice bit of continuity. The group mentality they display by just overwhelming and swarming victims who tear them to pieces offers plenty to like, as the scenes of the zombies attacking on the boat or overwhelming the rescue truck for survivors shows off their deadliness in fine form as well as letting some nice action-packed attacks come to the forefront. With the ferocity shown in numerous tense encounters and battles throughout the film, there's also a constant pervasive threat connected to them which makes their scattered appearances all the more terrifying.
‘Peninsula' also manages to score nicely with other bits of high-energy stunt-work. After being rescued by Min-jung and her daughter, the resulting series of car chases through the city cause plenty of vehicular stunts, crashes and impressive manners of crashing into the zombies in order to get by them. Even the tactics of using remote-controlled cars with lights and sound-makers attached for diversions make for some creative sequences as well, adding some variety to the scenes instead of just rushing into the swarm at high-speeds and sending them flying.
There's also a nice bit involving the capture of one of his team members who's forced to participate in a fight-club of sorts against captured zombies with other prisoners in front of the gang as a form of amusement. The finale, featuring a slew of car-chases and gun-fights both on foot and inside the racing cars trying to escape the zombie-swarmed streets contains all sorts of high-energy action with all sorts of stunts and impressive action with the zombies getting taken out while the humans carry on their struggles.
All that said, “Peninsula” does have some minor problems. One of the biggest drawbacks is the decidedly obvious use of CGI that tends to ruin many of the action scenes and ruins the tone. This is most obvious in the car-crash sequences against the zombies where the shots of them bouncing off the cars and going flying through the air or get run under their wheels. These show some of the films' most hideous computer-rendering effects. With the tactic appearing throughout these sequences and looking quite obvious throughout, it adds a completely different tone to the film by being too much like a comic-book action movie rather than a terrifying horror film.
As well, another issue here is several unnecessary and useless subplots that drag the running time out longer than it needs to be. A subplot involving Min-jung and the leader of the rival gang feels unnecessary and tacked on for more emotional depth, a lame segment about Jung-suk still needing to atone for the earlier actions of leaving Min-jung behind goes nowhere when she doesn't even remember it and there's no need for multiple double-crosses involving the initial mission into the country as it's not necessary. Otherwise, the film is quite enjoyable with a lot to like.
Packed with action and emotional resonance even if the former is out-of-touch with the tone of the film and the subplots aren't as necessary this time around, “Peninsula” isn't as impactful as its predecessor but is a worthy and enjoyable film taken on its own terms. No doubt fans of “Train to Busan”, zombie-genre fanatics or those curious about the hype will definitely be interested in this while viewers turned off by the change in tone or aren't fans of this style should heed caution.
