Jung-seok, a soldier who previously escaped the diseased wasteland, relives the horror when assigned to a covert operation with two simple objectives: retrieve and survive. When his team unexpectedly stumbles upon survivors, their lives will depend on whether the best — or worst — of human nature prevails in the direst of circumstances.
The zombie genre has been around for decades but what director Yeon Sang-ho did so well with 2016’s “Train to Busan,” was take the same old tropes associated with most zombie flicks, the location where the story’s protagonists are holed up, a shopping mall (“Dawn of the Dead”), an underground military compound (“Day of the Dead”), and made it mobile. For those who still haven’t seen “Train to Busan,” its title gives away its location. With the film’s excitement transpiring aboard a runaway train, the movie was an unexpected hit worldwide. Granted, it was only a matter of time before a sequel was announced but when it was, the fans went wild.
Like “28 Days Later” and its sequel, “28 Weeks Later,” “Peninsula” is tied to “Train to Busan” by name only, none of the characters who appeared in the first movie turn up in the second one, it is a complete standalone film. When it was first announced, it was titled “Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula,” now, they are simply calling it “Peninsula.” Admittedly, there really was no way to do a follow-up that would just happen to take place on another runaway train so having it occur on land was really the only way to go.
Four years after the events of the first movie, the South Korean peninsula has been cut off from the rest of the world to prevent any further zombie outbreaks. Jung-seok (Gang Dong-won) and his brother-in-law Chul-min (Kim Do-yoon) managed to escape the virus just as it was beginning to spread but Jung-seok lives with the guilt that he could have done more to help save his sister and young nephew. Now living in Hong Kong, Jung-seok and Chul-min are recruited by a local gangster, who they owe money to, and instead of having to pay him back, he informs them if they agree to go on a covert mission to retrieve $20 million of his money which is sitting in the back of a truck in Incheon, they can keep a percentage of it and their debt to him will be considered paid in full. Chul-min is more than willing to participate but Jung-seok is less than enthusiastic, the thought of going back to the epicenter of the virus outbreak is not something that appeals to him. Chul-min informs him that he is going with a small band of people and Jung-seok reluctantly agrees to join them, so he can protect Chul-min.
They manage to sneak onto the peninsula and retrieve the truck but then they are ambushed by a rogue militia group called Unit 631, former military soldiers who were stationed there and who were left behind when the virus engulfed the country. Jung-seok manages to escape the ambush while Chul-min, who is in the back of the truck, is taken to Unit 631’s compound. Jung-seok is rescued by two sisters, Joon (Lee Re), the driver of the car and her younger sister Yu-jin (Lee Ye-won), who take him back to their small house where their mother, Min-jung (Lee Jung-hyun) and grandfather, Elder Kim (Kwon Hae-hyo), await. When Jung-seok tells Min-jung about the mission for the $20 million and that a ship will be waiting for them at Incheon Port to take them back to Hong Kong the next morning, she agrees to help, wanting her two daughters to have the chance to live a normal life in the outside world. Reinforced with plenty of guns and ammunition, they sneak onto Unit 631’s compound to repossess the truck but when Jung-seok tries to rescue Chul-min, who is now a captive, all hell breaks loose. With soldiers and zombies on their trail, they must stick together, if they have any chance of escaping with their lives!
“Peninsula” has a very dystopian feel to it, bringing to mind other post-apocalyptic films such as “Escape from New York” and “Mad Max.” I give director Yeon Sang-ho credit for not immersing the whole world in the zombie apocalypse, like “Zombieland,” the aforementioned “28 Days Later” and its sequel, or any of Romero’s classics, instead, it is just the Korean peninsula, hence, the title. While the action takes place out in the open throughout Incheon, you can’t help but miss the claustrophobic atmosphere of “Train to Busan” and wish that the filmmakers had somehow come up with a way to continue the series aboard moving transportation, whether it be a train, a ship, or even a plane, although “World War Z” did that to great effect in a short scene. At times, the action is overly-accelerated, giving the effect of non-stop velocity and it occasionally takes away any air of realism, and while some might say “it’s only a zombie film,” I would invite you to (re)watch “Train to Busan” as it is filled with plenty of tangible scenes that are legitimately frightening. The zombies themselves are familiar and unlike Romero’s creations, they run fast, which I personally feel is scarier than the ones who just shuffle along but to each his own.
In the end, “Peninsula” is well-produced with some remarkable action scenes and some genuinely affecting emotional exchanges, especially in the opening where Jung-seok tries to rescue his sister and nephew from a horde of approaching zombies but the sudden change to a post-apocalyptic landscape feels forced and rushed. For fans anticipating this title, I would say the best way to approach it is to watch it as a standalone film, like “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” it is still part of the same universe that “Train to Busan” existed in but without any of the familiar characters or locations.
In Theaters Friday, August 21st
