Oct 28, 2017
I'm genuinely confused by the curious amount of critical success the film received. With a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes I thought the film could do no wrong, but I learned from my foolish mistake after watching this. Seoul Station is the prequel to Train to Busan, a live-action Korean zombie movie that enjoyed great success. I haven't seen Train to Busan myself, but I am curious as to how it stacks up to this movie - I assume it's a lot better.
The plot of Seoul Station is easy to guess given the subject matter - a zombie outbreak occurs, causing society to be disrupted
...
and causing people to scramble to find each other in this terrifying world of unknown dangers. the film primarily follows the quest of a four protagonists to find each other in this new chaotic world.
The problem with this story is that it really doesn't bring anything new to the table in regards to zombie stories. Some reviewers have praised the way the film reflects the social injustice in South Korea, and the discrimination that working class and homeless groups receive in the country. I don't know a whole lot about Korea, but I wouldn't even have guessed that was the primary goal, because frankly, the ideas it brings up seem almost quaint. People in power protecting themselves at the expense of the poor? People not having the resources to protect themselves once the establishment has fallen? Because you see these ideas crop up in zombie fiction so much, Seoul Station doesn't do enough to differentiate itself from other zombie flicks, and as such its social commentary feels lacking.
The film does have a number of really good scenes, however. There are moments when you can get to now characters and understand how their different backgrounds cause their relationships to be strained. And the film's ending was brilliant enough that it makes the film at least worth consideration. But these scenes are few and far between, the gaps filled by generic chase and action sequences set to a generic pounding rock track.
Similarly, the protagonists are quite interesting. There's a young woman, a former prostitute, saved from the streets by a disrespectful young man who spends all his time at a gaming café, ignoring her needs. They are separated and joined respectively by an old man, the first one to witness the effects of the zombie virus, and the girl's dad, who berates the gamer for the way he has mistreated his girl. Each of these characters are interesting, but their character arcs seem to resolve very shortly, with large spaces between development padded out by more zombie chase filler.
I haven't watched much Korean animation, but having seen this and Kai, I believe Korea is more fond of CG in animation. Sadly, the Cg in Seoul station feels irredeemably cheap. The low framerate can't disguise the rigid movements and the unnatural expressions on the characters' faces.
Ultimately, Seoul Station is a movie that doesn't need to exist for any particular reason. The social commentary is easily overlooked given the over-reliance on horror clichés to tell the story, its characters have potential for elaboration that is wasted, and its horrid, stiff animation makes the film a lot harder to watch, That's not to say that the film has no interesting potential . It really does, but it's sacrificed to the alter of action sequences an filler, which is a dead shame.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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