Peninsula is directed by Yeon-Sang-ho and is a sequel to the critically acclaimed Train to Busan also made by Yeon-Sang-ho. This time around we follow a group of refugees who were evacuated from the initial zombie outbreak from the first movie and now reside Hong Kong, however when a chance of a fortune strikes a ragtag team of mercenaries dive back into the zombie infested korean peninsula in order to steal a truck load of cash that was abandoned during the outbreak.
Now for anyone who has seen Train to Busan or talked to anyone who has seen the movie you probably always hear the same thing said, “its pretty fucking great”. If you haven’t read my review for Train to Busan, I highly recommend doing so if you’re not sure if you should watch it. I explain in my review why the movie works so well, I had nothing but praise for the movie. Its hands down one of the greatest zombie flicks ever made, its tense, action packed, emotional, and just worthy of the Masterpiece rating that i gave it. So that being said I was absolutely pumped for Peninsula. I couldn’t wait to see it but not only does it not live up to the first movie, it’s actually pretty bad.
And it actually really pains me to say it. I wanted this to be really good, I obviously thought there was no way they would top the original, but I honestly had no idea they could screw up this bad.
First of all let’s start with the characters. The first movie has such memorable characters, each with their own unique personality, and when something happened to these characters you actually felt emotion, you felt tense or upset or your fingers would grip into you palms whilst you froze at what you were seeing on screen with the characters you were invested in.Peninsula throws all that out of the window in favour of people who are badass and like doing cool shit for sake of looking badass and doing cool shit, without the plot points from the first that would compel characters (Normal everyday people in train to busan) to do something risky and heroic. The characters are just one note and just plain boring, there wasn’t a single character in the movie I was rooting for.
Let’s talk about the villain, yes there are zombies but like the first movie that isn’t the only threat in the first movie you had the rich, selfish and entitled business man, and as i mentioned in my Train To Busan review i have never hated someone as much as this guy. However I’m never going to be in this guy’s situation so I can’t say for certain I wouldn’t do the same thing but I think I have the ethics not to do what this guy does in the movie. But on the other hand I kind of understand why he does it and that is what makes a great villain. You know Thanos, Joker (solo movie version) Private Pyle, yes you know it’s bad but you can understand why. It gets you thinking about it…it makes you question your morals and it’s fantastic. But in the Peninsula people are bad because they think it’s funny. They are not doing questionable things because they want to survive, they are doing it because the film wants you to go “”oh so did this so they’re the baddies?” and expects you not to ask why they did it and it’s really poor they have scenes where the “villians” literally laugh like a cartoon villain *que in Steve Martin from Looney Tunes back in action” its honestly the biggest downgrade i have seen in cinema villains…no joke.
They also take the approach to action in a whole different direction. In Train to Busan the action was very full on and really tense and seat gripping and also really cool to look at. Despite being unrealistic in its setting (you know a zombie apocalypse) everything seemed grounded in reality in a sense. Everything was perfectly balanced; it was grounded enough that it didn’t give the impression it was too cartoonish or over the top but had just enough of the Hollywood varnish that made it action packed and a blast to see unfold.
Here it’s just a terrible looking CGI fest most of which is just car chases with a few gunfights and zombies thrown in. Most of the time it’s like the director saw Baby Driver and said “That’s really cool, you know with the driving and stuff lets do that but everything is special effects because the stuff we have planned can’t be done in real life and that’s what people will love”…
They try to have a lot of humour in this one too, key word ‘try’ not one of the jokes made me even chuckle. There is one joke about being a gay couple which the entire scene was just absolutely cringe inducing and by far the worst part of the movie. Basically without spoiling much, not that i recommend watching this movie in the first place but the villain is hanging around this guy in the camp who is planning on betraying him, when the villian looks like he has figured out the guys plan, he just randomly goes “oh i know whats going, on you’re gay?” And the guy is like “ Yeah, Oh boy you hit the nail on the head” i paraphrase of course but the whole scene was criminally unfunny a pattern all the jokes follow unfortunately
The first Train To Busan was filled with solid performances from everyone involved. Peninsula doesn’t have a single standout performance; everyone is dull and dreary or overly comedic and the viewer cannot create any sort of emotional attachment to anyone as they did with most if not every main character in the original movie as everyone is just as bland as a stale cream cracker.
Peninsula is and was a disappointment from start to finish, nothing really positive to say here except maybe the actual idea of a heist movie in a zombie apocalypse but unfortunately that doesn’t play out and the heist aspect is over before it even starts. I have never seen something so great, have a follow up so blatantly lazy, unentertaining, ugly and commit the worst sin a movie can make, especially an action movie…it’s just boring.
Final Score.
Title: Awful
“Peninsula takes everything that made Train To Busan a Masterpiece in the zombie genre and ignores it and pumps out a dull, ugly, and boring zombie flick that definitely is not worth your time. If you want some good foreign entertainment that’s better than Peninsula watch Train to Busan again or read your local Chinese takeaway menu.“
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