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Train to Busan (부산행; Busanhaeng) is a 2016 South Korean action-horror film directed by Yeon Sang Ho and starring Gong Yoo, Jung Yu Mi, and Ma Dong Seok. The film mostly takes place on a train to Busan as a zombie apocalypse suddenly breaks out in the country and threatens the safety of the passengers.
The film premiered in the Midnight Screenings section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on 13 May. On 7 August, the film set a record as the first Korean film of 2016 to break the audience record of over 10 million theatergoers. The film serves as a reunion for Gong Yoo and Jung Yu-mi, who both starred in the 2011 film The Crucible. A sequel, Peninsula, was released on July 15, 2020.
Synopsis[]
| “ | As a zombie outbreak sweeps the country, a dad and his daughter take a harrowing train journey in an attempt to reach the only city that's still safe. | ” |
—Official Description[1] | ||
Fund manager Seok Woo (Gong Yoo) lives in Seoul and is separated from his wife.
His life is his work, and he spends relatively little time with his young daughter, who misses him very much.
She asks him to grant him a birthday wish – to take her to the seaside city of Busan. He agrees and decides to take her out for the day on the KTX, a high-speed express train that links some of South Korea's biggest cities.
They board the train, along with a number of fellow passengers, including a young couple who are expecting a baby, a homeless man, and the members of a high school baseball team.
One more passenger also boards, just as the train is preparing to pull out of the station – a flesh-eating zombie!
The zombie bites and infects a member of the train's crew, and together the two zombies run rampant on the KTX, turning a large number of the passengers into zombies, too.
Outside the train, things are even worse. A full-blown zombie pandemic is raging, and many cities fall to the flesh-eaters.
The South Korean military manages to establish a safe haven in Busan – so Seok Woo and the other non-zombie survivors must pool their wits if they are to escape the train without getting infected!
Can Seok Woo bring his daughter to safety?[2]
Cast[]
- Gong Yoo as Seo Suk Woo, a fund manager who is estranged from his daughter.
- Jung Yoo Mi as Seong Kyung, Sang Hwa's pregnant wife.
- Ma Dong Seo as Yoon Sang Hwa, a tough man.
- Kim Soo An as Seo Soo Ahn, Seok Woo's daughter who wants to go to Busan to see her mother.
- Kim Eui Sung as Yong Suk, COO of Stallion Express.
- Choi Woo Shik as Min Young Guk, a young baseball player who is going to Busan to a baseball game.
- Ahn So Hee as Kim Jin Hee, Yong Guk's girlfriend
- A man suffering from PTSD after a zombie attack.
- Jung Suk Yong as a captain of KTX
- Ye Soo Jung as In Gil, older sister of Jong-gil
- Park Myung Shin as Jong Gil, younger sister of In-gil
- Jang Hyuk Jin as Gi Chul, a train attendant
Soundtrack[]
Production[]
Filming began on April 26, 2015 and concluded August 19, 2015.
Reception[]
Box office[]
Train to Busan grossed $93.1 million worldwide. It became the highest-grossing Korean film in Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. It recorded more than 11 million moviegoers in South Korea.
Critical response[]
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 94% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 107 critics, and an average rating of 7.57/10. The website's critics consensus states: "Train to Busan delivers a thrillingly unique — and purely entertaining — take on the zombie genre, with fully realized characters and plenty of social commentary to underscore the bursts of skillfully staged action." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film an average score of 72 based on 15 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Clark Collis of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the film "borrows heavily from World War Z in its depiction of the fast-moving undead masses while also boasting an emotional core the Brad Pitt-starring extravaganza often lacked," adding that "the result is first-class throughout." At The New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis selected the film as her "Critic's Pick" and took notice of its subtle class warfare. Filmmaker Edgar Wright, who directed the BAFTA nominated zombie-comedy Shaun of the Dead, was a big fan of the film. Wright recommended the film in a tweet and called it the "best zombie movie I've seen in forever." In contrast, the negative reviews have described the film as "Snowpiercer with zombies." David Ehrlich of IndieWire comments that "as the characters whittle away into archetypes (and start making senseless decisions), the spectacle also sheds its unique personality."
Awards and nominations[]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asian Film Awards | March 21, 2017 | Best Actor | Gong Yoo | Nominated |
| Best Supporting Actor | Ma Dong Seok | |||
| Best Editor | Yang Jin Mo | |||
| Best Visual Effects | Jung Hwang Su | |||
| Best Costume Designer | Kwon Yoo Jin and Rim Seung Hee | |||
| Blue Dragon Film Awards | November 25, 2016 | Best Film | Train to Busan | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Kim Eui Sung | |||
| Ma Dong Seuk | ||||
| Best Supporting Actress | Jung Yu Mi | |||
| Best New Director | Yeon Sang Ho | |||
| Best Art Direction | Lee Mok Won | |||
| Best Screenplay | Park Joo Seok | |||
| Best Editing | Yang Jin Mo | |||
| Best Cinematography | Lee Hyeong Deok | |||
| Best Lighting | Park Jeong Woo | |||
| Technical Award | Kwak Tae Yong and Hwang Hyo Goon (special make-up) | Won | ||
| Audience Choice Award for Most Popular Film | Train to Busan | |||
| Buil Film Awards | October 7, 2016 | Best Film | Train to Busan | Nominated |
| Best Supporting Actor | Kim Eui Sung | Won | ||
| Best Supporting Actress | Jung Yu Mi | Nominated | ||
| Best Cinematography | Lee Hyeong Deok | |||
| Best Art Direction | Lee Mok Won | |||
| Yu Hyun Mok Film Arts Award | Yeon Sang Ho | Won | ||
| Fangoria Chainsaw Awards | N/A | Best Foreign-Language Film | Train to Busan | |
| Best Actor | Goo Yoo | Nominated | ||
| Korean Association of Film Critics Awards | November 24, 2016 | Technical Award | Train to Busan | Won |
| Saturn Awards | June 28, 2017 | Best Horror Film | Nominated | |
| Baeksang Arts Awards | May 3, 2017 | Best Film | ||
| Best Supporting Actor | Kim Eui Sung | Won | ||
| Ma Dong Seok | Nominated | |||
| Best New Director | Yeon Sang Ho | Won | ||
| Chunsa Film Awards | May 24, 2017 | Technical Award | Kwak Tae Yong | |
| Special Audience Award for Best Film | Traon to Busan |
Home media[]
American distributor Well Go USA released DVD and Blu-ray versions of Train to Busan on 17 January 2017. FNC Add Culture released the Korean DVD and Blu-ray versions on 22 February 2017. It is also available on Rakuten Viki, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video streaming. The Indian version is a minute shorter than the original version due to a few violent zombie shots being censored.
Prequel and new installment[]
An animated prequel, Seoul Station, also directed by Yeon, was released less than a month later.
Peninsula, a movie that is said to be showing the events four years after Train to Busan and also directed by Yeon, is scheduled to be released in August 2020. Yeon has stated that, "Peninsula is not a sequel to Train to Busan because it's not a continuation of the story, but it happens in the same universe."
Trivia[]
Gallery[]
Videos[]
