MOVIE REVIEW: Peninsula (2020)

Shane | 11 November 2020 | Reply

MOVIE REVIEW: Peninsula (2020)
Directed by Yeon Sang-ho
Starring Gang Dong-won, Lee Jung-hyun, and Lee Re
7/10

Zombies have always had a unique place in modern culture. In fact, the horror sub-genre has established itself well beyond the realm of film and television.

Zombie games such as Dying Light have been quite popular over the last few years, giving everyone a chance to experience what it would be like to live in a zombie apocalypse. The zombie genre has also managed to go beyond the typical action games and have crossed over into more casual games. Leading gaming portal Foxy Games has loads of games dedicated to the undead including Wild Walker and Lightning Horseman. And the zombie genre’s expansion to more unconventional games is telling of just how popular it has become.

But games aren’t the only medium where the zombie genre is expanding.

The 2016 global hit Train to Busan is an indication that the zombie genre still has room to grow. This is especially true in the international scene. The movie was a great example of how different cultures approach the staple horror sub-genre. Due to the overwhelmingly positive reception of the first film, many fans from all over the globe were excited for its standalone sequel Peninsula. So how does it hold up to the first? Is it worth the hype? These are the questions we’ll try to answer in this review.

Peninsula is set four years after the events of the original Train to Busan. It follows the story of Marine Captain Junge-Seok and explores his escape and return to South Korea. One of the best things about this film is that it shows how the initial outbreak affected the rest of South Korea. While the end of the first film was rather hopeful, Peninsula reveals that the worse was yet to come as South Korea eventually turned into a hostile zombie wasteland.

Without giving too much of the plot away, the film dives deep into the psyche of those that survived the original outbreak — the guilt they’ve had to live with stemming from the decisions they made just to survive. Given this, the film is quite different from Train to Busan in the sense that it doesn’t really tackle the complexities of the human condition. While the film still features human against human, it can be likened to more traditional zombie movies as it features loads of action and thrills courtesy of the massive zombie horde that fills most of the film’s 116-minute runtime.

Fans of Train to Busan will not be disappointed, as the film still has plenty to offer albeit in a slightly different package than the first film. While the thrill of seeing normal people duke it out with zombies is absent, it does make up for it in entertaining action sequences that’ll have you at the edge of your seat. Audiences from all over the globe will also find the film’s lead, Jung-seok (played by Gand Dong-won), quite compelling as they’ll quickly find themselves rooting for him by the end of the film. With all that being said, the film was quite enjoyable and is a worthy addition to the thriving South Korean horror genre.