Seoul Station (2016) South Korea

Not your ordinary night adventure in Seoul.

Original title:

Seoulyeok (Korean)

Genre:

Anime, Adventure, Horror, Thriller.

Length:

Approximately 5-minute read.


Review:
     I have mentioned in my review for 'Train to Busan' that it has a prequel, but an anime. This is it, this is the one from the same director. Releasing them in a short time apart has advantages, as well as disadvantages. Like comparison is unavoidable, yet being different format is a big excuse. But both the films going have its fans backing.

     This is not a high standard anime, but acceptable due to the quality of the narration. Yes the story was good. Like the live-action film, there are many unexpected thing happens. Particularly, you cannot trust anyone in this kind of survival game. It was a slow opening, followed by picking up the pace once the chaos was unleashed and then ended with a nice twist.

     Once you watch this, you might say it could have made a decent live-action. I thought the same. Prequel or sequel, not bad at all, though it can't be compared to the original. Everything was a one night event, but not entire film takes place at Seoul Station. It all begins there, yet this film as well fail to detail on the source. Like from where it all started. Apart from that, quite an enjoyable anime with a few great tense moments.

     Like any ordinary day, the Seoul Station was calmly shutting down for the day at near midnight. But for the homeless people, it is a roof over their head. One of them discovers that his brother got injured badly, so he seeks help from the authorities nearby. On the other side of the tale, a father who finally discovered his runaway daughter staying with a young man. So the two rides together to find her who went out. Soon they all come to know the people are behaving weirdly. And after realising the serious threat of it, its now running for life. But would they successfully track down what they're looking for is revealed in the final segment.

 If I had a place to go, I would not have stayed at Seoul Station. 

     After watching a very satisfying live-action zombie film, and after learning about this one, I was looking forward to this day. A well made film, particularly after an average initiation, how it developed and ended was excellent. Most of you would enjoy the second half better. Overall, it has a good runtime and the interesting characters.

     The voice-over looked fine. Since I didn't understand the language, it was not a big deal. Though the visual, I mean the sketches should have been a little better. In some parts, you will know that they used digital backgrounds, perhaps from 3D to 2D, particularly in the running scenes where you won't notice enough. So there should be some negatives and for me it was the connection between these two titles. The two films' timeline overlaps. I mean the final section of this and the opening parts of the other film.

     Since it took place in the night time, most of the people were not aware of what's going on in the streets. As a daybreak follows, more people on the street, big chaos and we know what happened afterwards, especially from the train passengers' perspective. Like I mentioned earlier, not knowing the origins of this sudden outbreak is the disappointment after watching both the films.

     You might have heard that 'Train to Busan' is set to remake in Hollywood. If you haven't watched that, you should do now and following, this one too. Because of the connection, yet not compulsory as these films do not share much detail. It was just like 'Cloverfield' and '10 Cloverfield Lane'. Keeping update is worth suppose in the future any follow-up film are made. I liked this one, but a little lesser than the original. The other major difference is, watching the zombies (attack) in anime version is a different experience. Maybe you can say less frightening, those who are easy prey for such film. Anyway, worthy film. I would particularly suggest it to those who saw the previous film.



Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


Final verdict:
Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent


Similar movies:
Train to Busan, I Am a Hero, Freaks of Nature, Zombieland, Doghouse.


External link(s):

WCA geolocation:
Right now we're in

Train to Busan (2016) South Korea

Horror express.

Original title:

Busanhaeng (Korean)

Genre:

Action, Horror, Thriller.

Length:

Approximately 6-minute read.


Review:
     A week ago I saw a zombie film from Japan called 'I Am a Hero' and now this Korean. I have not seen a quality zombie film at the recent time. The second tier films like 'Cooties', 'Freaks of Nature', 'Scouts Guide...', all these were comedies. Probably 'World War Z' was the last decent zombie film I have seen and after that this is the one. So the timing of the film was another advantage. Since there's no competition, this zombie film rules. And not to forget the Korean style, they are among the best thriller film makers today.

     Directed by an Anime filmmaker, this is his first live-action film. When I decided to watch it, I thought it would be another Korean film, which rely on father-daughter sentiments. You know I kind of tired of that Korean cliche where at the final stage they let the kid sob and call it a twist. Initially I enjoyed those and later on getting bored of that. With that kind of reasons, I would have missed it. Being a film fanatic, I won't mind to risk a watch, except give up writing a review for it.

     But in this case, it was completely different. Even the characters, any characters in the film, either in the lead or the supporting ones, all are unpredictable. That's the biggest plus point of the film. At the end you won't be sure, who you were rooting for. You know in those edgy scenes, we blindly back the one we like. You will think you can guess the upcoming scenes, but the writing was very smartly done. Feels like they did not care about a sequel, if this meets a greater success. But who knows, this is a cinema and there were many mysteries kept unsolved, so they can pick up from one of those loops.

 Whatever you do, you must finish what you start.
It's worse than not doing it at all. 

     This is the story of a divorced, workaholic father and his young daughter. After the progress, many others join them. On her birthday, they decide to visit her mother in Busan. On their train, soon after it took off, they come to know that something is wrong around. With all the chaos unrolling rapidly, a group of survivours gathers in a car since there's no escape as they are trapped in a moving train. How their journey ends, whether they reach a safe place with the fight against the living dead, the narration comes to halt.

     In the contest of good versus evil, there's no place for sentiments. But at one stage, near the end they cleared the place to attach one. In that final scene you can't resist, even if you are not an emotional person when it comes to the film. As I mentioned earlier that is the part I feared the most would come, but i did not hate it in the context of story development. Because that was a perfect setting to take the story to the next level.

     There are several twists. Those are from the film characters' perspective than the story wise. They did not bother to tell about the cause of the epidemic. Instead, this film was focused on the train passengers and their fight for survival when the defending options are limited. Just imagine it is a zombie version of another Korean film 'Snowpiercer' or like 'Snakes on a Plane'.

     I have heard there's another film, an animation which is also directed by the same filmmaker and said to be a prequel to this one. If you had liked it, you would be itching to watch that one as well. Hope I would watch it as soon as I get an opportunity. So, my view on it, the film is very good. It was close to two hours long, but once the train journey begins, you won't going to notice the time. I am saying the pace of the film, as well as the events make you dissolve in it completely and forget everything else. This is the best zombie film right now and you should not miss it, especially if you like this theme. Recommended!



Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


Final verdict:
Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent


Similar movies:
World War Z, The Flu, Down of the Dead, 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, The Dead.


External link(s):
      

WCA geolocation:
Right now we're in