Peninsula: Movie Review

Tagging "Peninsula" along with the excellent "Train to Busan" ultimately seals its fate. You can't avoid but compare both and unfortunately, "Peninsula" was definitely inferior in every way possible. If you want some meat, some heart, and some drama from your zombie film like the former provided its audiences then "Peninsula" will be a huge disappointment. But if what you're looking for is a simple action-packed experience, then it might be entertaining enough for you to give it a chance. 

Four years after the zombie outbreak in the South Korean peninsula, the whole country has been completely abandoned by the whole world. Those who were able to escape South Korea have experienced hardship due to racism and discrimination. One of those survivors is Jung-seok (Gang Dong-won), a former Marine captain, who as a refugee in Hong Kong has failed to uproot his life due to his guilt for failing to save his sister and nephew. One day, a gangster approaches him and his brother-in-law and offers them a deal of a lifetime - retrieve a truck containing $20 million inside of it. The only catch is that the truck is in the middle of Seoul. With his brother-in-law adamant of going, Jung-seok has no choice but to accept the deal. 

We can't really say that "Peninsula" was downright mediocre because it had the setpieces, the story, the characters, the scenarios that make it complete as a zombie film experience. But the decision to go full tilt on action was probably misguided, providing a very different and jarring experience especially against the context of "Train to Busan" and the pedigree that it brings forth. Part "Mad Max", part "Baby Driver", and part "World War Z", the varying elements within "Peninsula" just never gels together into a cohesive whole. It's pretty obvious then that the film's strongest point was its action. There will be a plethora of set pieces and scenes that you'll experience and watching "Peninsula" was never boring as the zombie kill count went up to crazy numbers. Outside its excellent action, the film was just too corny in every other aspect. The drama and human connection, which were critical in "Train to Busan", were mostly missing and poorly-executed. The rare moments where the film inserts drama were just painfully articial and laughably bad. Sadly, connecting "Peninsula" with "Train to Busan" does it no favors and would have been better off disassociating itself from it from the get-go.  

Rating: 2 and a half reels

Why you should watch it:
- at least this gave balls-out action from start to finish.

 
Why you shouldn't watch it:
- missing that human touch and authentic drama that made its predecessor standout.