Yeon Sang-ho has made 3 zombie flicks so far - the incredible Train to Busan, the excellent animated prequel Seoul Station, and now the rather meh sequel Peninsula. Each takes place in the same world at different times, and each has its distinct approach, so you should go into this movie understanding that it isn't remotely like Busan except for having bunches of zombies.
This time around, the approach is action adventure built on a heist/suicide-mission scenario. 4 people go deep into zombie territory in search of treasure, and of course everything goes wrong.
The result is a mixed bag. Some of the action is fun, and the movie finds interesting ways of battling zombie hordes, who run pellmell, including into each other in big pile-ups. The CGI is weak - not only do the zombies look fake - the entire city is clearly built out of mediocre CGI. There are a couple of entertaining kids and an intense performance by Kim Min-jae as a canny psycho.
In parts, the movie is brutal and entertaining, but it's got some severe pacing issues. There's a chunk in the middle that tries and fails to do a little character development and just brings the whole movie to a standstill. Even worse is the final 15 minutes, which tries to milk a tremendous amount of pathos from the situation by making it go on way longer than it should - it's basically a 5 minute scene stretched out until it breaks, so the closest thing it creates to emotion is irritation.
I feel if you edited out about a half an hour of this movie it would be a snappy little zombie thriller that still wouldn't be as good as the two previous films but would be worth a watch. But as is, it's something you can easily skip.
This time around, the approach is action adventure built on a heist/suicide-mission scenario. 4 people go deep into zombie territory in search of treasure, and of course everything goes wrong.
The result is a mixed bag. Some of the action is fun, and the movie finds interesting ways of battling zombie hordes, who run pellmell, including into each other in big pile-ups. The CGI is weak - not only do the zombies look fake - the entire city is clearly built out of mediocre CGI. There are a couple of entertaining kids and an intense performance by Kim Min-jae as a canny psycho.
In parts, the movie is brutal and entertaining, but it's got some severe pacing issues. There's a chunk in the middle that tries and fails to do a little character development and just brings the whole movie to a standstill. Even worse is the final 15 minutes, which tries to milk a tremendous amount of pathos from the situation by making it go on way longer than it should - it's basically a 5 minute scene stretched out until it breaks, so the closest thing it creates to emotion is irritation.
I feel if you edited out about a half an hour of this movie it would be a snappy little zombie thriller that still wouldn't be as good as the two previous films but would be worth a watch. But as is, it's something you can easily skip.