(WARNING: Contains spoilers for the movie Train to Busan.)
I didn’t really enjoy the sequel, but seen as a standalone story, "Train to Busan" was a great zombie movie. To the point that if I was trying to explain that there were real life zombies running around I would say something like "It’s ‘Train to Busan,’ run!"
A father so wrapped up in his "very important" job that he barely has a connection to his young daughter who desperately wants to be with her mother in Busan. A son that relies on his aging mother to provide all the love and care that he should to his young daughter while ignoring her pleas to see his daughter and love her for himself. A formless mother figure and ex-wife that he in some way resents for having the daughter’s love that he himself refuses to cherish.
At its core, "Train to Busan" is not just a story of survival, but a story of love. Of realizing what is actually important before it is too late.
In his last moments of humanity, his dearest memories are of his daughter’s birth and the joy she brought him. He died with the hope that he had saved her. That he had done all that he could to give her a chance to survive in a suddenly hostile world.
It’s like growing up. There came a point in time where he no longer had the capacity to guide her steps and was forced to open his hand and let go. To hope that she would swim rather than sink, that she would live and flourish rather than become a monster like him.
And I think that’s why I didn’t enjoy the sequel as much as I hoped to. It lacked the heart and humanity of "Train to Busan." A zombie movie that really wasn’t about zombies, but the human condition, and what humans are willing and ready to do when it’s about survival rather than simply getting ahead. When all the extras and the luxuries are stripped away, and the only choice is live or die.
~Harper Kingsley
https://amazon.com/shop/harperkingsley0.
https://paypal.me/harperkingsley.
https://patreon.com/harperkingsley.
https://ko-fi.com/harperwck.
https://www.harperkingsley.net/blog.
https://twitter.com/harperkingsley0.
https://kimichee.com.
