“Peninsula” (2020) Presented by “Train to Busan” / Z-View
Peninsula (2020)
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Screenplay: Yeon Sang-ho, Ryu Yong-jae
Stars: Gang Dong-won, Lee Jung-hyun, Kwon Hae-hyo, Kim Min-jae, Koo Kyo-hwan, Kim Do-yoon, Lee Re and Lee Ye-won.
Tagline: Escape the Apocalypse
The Plot…
A zombie virus outbreak left South Korea a wasteland. When the apocalypse started, Jung-seok, a Korean marine, brought his sister, her husband and their little boy to a military safe location. While there a man infected with the zombie virus made it through. When the man turned, Jung-seok’s sister and child were killed. Both Jung-seok and his brother-in-law have carried the guilt of not being able to save them.
Four years later, Jung-seok (now a civilian), his brother-in-law and two others are offered a job that will make them rich. Chinese gangsters say that a truck containing $20 million is located in the Busan peninsula. If the four can make it to the truck and bring it back, they are promised $10 million to split.
Jung-seok and his three partners take the gig. They know the area is overrun with zombies. What they don’t know is that a rouge military and others have made the area home. And they don’t like strangers.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
I’m a huge fan of Train to Busan. I consider it a classic zombie movie. So you can imagine my anticipation to see Train to Busan‘s writer/director Yeon Sang-ho’s sequel, Peninsula. Sang-ho cowrote and directed Peninsula. Unfortunately it falls short of the original. I’m reminded of how I felt after seeing Escape from LA since I loved Escape from New York.
Although Peninsula is a Train to Busan sequel, no characters from the original film appear. It’s another story set in the same world as the first film. I wouldn’t mind seeing more tales from Busan.
Peninsula (2020) rates 3 of 5 stars