Train to Busan

Often chaotic but never disorienting, the movie’s spirited set pieces owe much to Lee Hyung-deok’s wonderfully agile cinematography. Dipping and levitating, his camera injects air into tunnels and washrooms and luggage compartments, giving the action a hurtling vigor. Even more impressive is the train itself: marveling at its freakishly strong doors and dedicated staff, you might find yourself mourning the state of our own rail services more than the fate of the characters.

The propulsively entertaining Train to Busan takes Snowpiercer’s locomotive class warfare and adds zombies, resulting in the biggest Korean hit of 2016 (whose rights have already been snapped up for the inevitable Hollywood remake)… In his live-action debut, anime director Yeon Sang-ho turns train cars into cellular dramas of class resentments, nail-biting escapes and torturous moral choices.

Most of the lifts here are from Bong Joonho. The idea of a train with an ‘elite’ cloistered in First Class has an obvious debt to Snowpiercer, and the stuff about brutal military enforcement of infection-containment measures derives from The Host. But as we’ve noted, Yeon does know how to run with second-hand ideas. His fast-moving, acrobatic zombies (yes, he’s seen World War Z) make possible a couple of really knockout images during the climactic scenes in East Daegu shunting yard.