Seoul-yeok

Rate of 5 (fine)
seen via english subtitles

Zombies, shot at life among humans never works out. This is no exception.

Likes:
-plot in terms of the intro. There are many routes this could have played out: the news bulletin of an out break, a chemical gas, magic. Their take was more realistic in terms of a passersby(an unaware person) and was not too played out. For example don't you hate movies that start out generally the same without much change:batman and robin, spiderman, deadpool all fighting for justice.

-ending was definitely not what i thought for sure. Kudos to the writers on that. Yet, i feel mixed on ... to how it was portrayed.

-characters: No matter whom it was say an officer they didn't break character.

-message: though it was short and midway through their message was a connectable piece of data that shouldn't be ignored.

Dislike:
art: Character portray was original and clear but in terms of blending in with the environment they did not mix well. Almost as if someone showed there characters via a projection on an everyday street. Hard for the viewer to sink in if he/she can not fully connect to the story.

It may be about zombies but the director seems to take a zombie apocalypse to bring out a social scope on the matter; South Korea’s homeless predicament is a ubiquitous theme throughout the film, prostitution secondly, youth runaways. Centerpoints which all come down to a social class theme.

At least that’s what I thought of it.

Homelessness was tied to all the prominent characters from what I saw as I scrubbed the video to the beginning, going back before finishing the last act, pausing at the each character’s first appearance onscreen. Their surroundings tell all and are primary motivation for specific characters decisions; where they ... are at first, and what one could infer from the scenery at that moment pretty much paints the picture of the character.

It should be noted that this isn’t some crappy z-flick movie best left in a trash bin. The plot is quite good, it definitely plays off at the end, leaving one to think about what was and what ended as the movie drew to a close.

Just like the rest of the z-flicks, it’s not a happy story - but it’s one that puts out its key punches in way unique from most of the rest.

It’s a pretty well polished film, great music and ambience, with a distinct animation style, great rendering if not a bit over the top character gesturing. With that, the film smoothly strong-arms the characters’ emotional state onscreen most of the time.

Just one quick thing to point out about the criticization of the graphic animation. It was well done imo, the style probably wasn’t in many people’s tastes. I could only count of two short and quick scenes where I was there were a few more lines of details instead of, say in one, where the floor was just a flat green one color.

More importantly, in addition to the animation expressing the character’s emotional state, it does extremely well detailing the bodies of the animated cast. The physical appearance of a character’s body should be kept in mind as the film moves on and when extra detail is shown of or when the camera centers in on a part of the character. I thought it was very emphatical keying into the those cues. The background and scenery art’s relationship to the film’s theme of home also became very well emphasized as one of our mains reacted with the surroundings at the last act. Again, here the film gives an image to allow the viewer to contemplate the events that had past in the film to the current moment on scene.

To summarize my take on the art a bit, I saw the graphical representations to be quite detailed and refined for most of the time in the film. I thought at times the visuals, and the little details especially, should be definitely taken into account in order to sink into the atmosphere of the movie. The blurring, animation and style of locomotion could be offputting at times, akin to Knights of Sidonia’s style but any negative aspects in the film’s art is offset by the important details put in scene.


On how the film kicked off and died slowly then lingered after:
I thought it was unique a intro and background-reveal to one of the main characters, although I was a bit annoyed with the first act’s prime character’s method of speech, a different character from former first described.

Finally, I thought the ending was just lovely for me. It hit the right notes for me.
And on a musical perspective, it hit the best note with its song at the very end. I was out of breath and forgot to take one in. Stunning.




- - - This isn’t the average zombie movie. And if one like this type of horror, it’s well worth a watch and it may leave some nice surprises that gives more than one what was initially looking for - - -

To be honest the movie is not so bad, the course of it is pleasant and funny despite the abusive cgi. Until we find the end of it, an immense confusion.

History: (4/10)
The story from beginning to before reaching the end, would be even in a 7 of how decent it is, but the end ruins everything. An immensely confusing Plot Twist.
Girl: He's not my dad!
Me: WHAT?

“Just a homeless guy...... I would’ve helped him if he’s injured”

*HES BLEEDING PROFUSELY FROM ... HIS NECK

In conclusion, a decent story going to painful, but ignoring the "dad" and the prostitute daughter, decent.

Art: (2/10)
Little to tell the truth, art is very bad, since the studio lacks the resources to make a simple drawing, it resorted to CGI and implemented in everything it could. The animator forgot to encourage people by closing doors. Simply a masterpiece of trash anime.

Sound: (1/10)
The sound I don't know what to say about it, with each blow that passed, it made me laugh more.
They looked like blows to a cardboard more than to a zombie, but hey ...

Character: (4/10)
All, absolutely all the characters are confusingly weird.
Hye-Sun: The girl in the movie, at first they told us that the boyfriend prostituted her through internet blogs, until she realized that he got angry and they fight, ending the relationship.

Hye-Sun: can I live?

Logic: you'll live when you CLOSE THIS DAMN DOOR !!!

Ki-woong: He doesn't do anything, he's scary, he used his girlfriend to get money for rent, and then he meets the "dad" and they go all over the city looking for the supposed daughter, to finally die in his last heroic act.
The Boss: The f ** king boss, literally posing as Hye-Sun's dad only to get his money back, in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, which is impressive.
The tramp: The old man who spends the whole story with our protagonist (Hye-Sun). I was a little sorry that he died

Conclusion:
The movie develops very badly, the animation is ... CGI BOSS. I don't know if it had the sound, the characters evolved ... I think, And despite everything I enjoyed the movie, so I think the punctuation is very good.

Seoul-yeok / Seoul Station is clearly not a must-watch movie but represents an average movie for zombies fans and a bad movie for Last Train for Busan's fans.

If you have never watched the live-action film Last Train for Busan, please go ahead and watch this masterpiece of modern zombies films. I watched many films with this thema, going from classics (George Romero's fims such as Zombie, Night of the Living Dead, etc) but also modern ones (Resident Evil saga, World War Z, 28 Days Later, etc) and Last Train for Busan can easily enter my top 5.

So for those who have not watched it yet, ... Seoul-yeok takes place in the eponym Korean city where you will follow a woman & her boyfriend, being separated at the beginning. They both have to survive the debut of a zombie apocalypse, with regular humans turning into bestial creatures who only desire to bite/eat non-infected livings. The story is basic to follow and has nothing exceptionnal. In fact most viewers watched it because they appreciated Last Train for Busan?

And it was disappointing... indeed, this film does not add anything to the original work, it is actually totally canon. There is no common point, not even a train that seems to go somewhere. Well ok, some scenes take place in the underground, on the metro/train rails but that's it. What frustrated me the most was the total absence of any relation, any easter egg or anything that indicates a relation.

I was not asking for a very obvious point but for example, in REC 3, you have a 10 seconds scene where a TV in the background shows a scene from REC 1/2. This little detail was totally missable for someone who did not watch the previous films but acted as a related element for those who did. Easy, short & gives you a smile. Seoul-yeok did not even fulfill its role to be a sequel for Last train for Busan.

Disappointing overall with horrible tearing scenes (I mean, characters crying, not something heartbreaking) that made me laugh like crazy. An animation correct at the best, even a bit mediocre on some points. The story was... skippable, even if the conclusion tends to be more dramatic than expected (however I did not care much about it). Very shameful that they did not EVEN give a single hint reminding the original film. Also, extremely ironic that it was called "Seoul Station" but most scenes took place OUTSIDE of a metro station...

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.

Okay, where do I start with this?
First of all, it's not really as bad as you would think seeing as the score is nothing more than a mediocre one - however, it's live-action sequel counterpart is better by lightyears.

The story itself is not very consistent and I personally couldn't find any meaning or red thread in it - hence, I couldn't find as much enjoyment as I otherwise probably would. If you've watched or are planning to watch the live-action "Train to Busan", this is by no means an important part of understanding and enjoying the story. In fact, this doesn't really explain anything ... in regards to the events in the live-action sequel. What I expected was a story leading up to exactly what caused the outbreak, but I never got that. In short, it's no use watching this film if you're expecting a solution or explanation as to why the events in "Train to Busan" occured.

The art is a very subjective matter so it's not fair of me to say that the movie became "less good" because of the artstyle. However, I personally found that my enjoyment was quickly reduced when I was introduced to the artstyle as it is not my personal prefference. If you can pull of 3DCG then please do make a series or movie depicting the actions and real life-like suspense 3D animation can bring forth. This film however, did not succeed in that as the art fell flat along with the suspense and storyline. When utilizing 3D animation, I expect them to do it to it's fullest - and by that I mean not just using it as an easier mean of animating characters but also utilizing it's ability to beef up the perspectives and movements of the so-called "camera". If that's not used, I don't see the point of using 3DCG even if it does make animation alot easier if you know what you're doing. In fact, I personally find it even more useless if the project is even made when you don't have the guts to animate it properly.

The sound was nothing more than mediocre. I can't even remember the music at the top of my head as I usually do. I know that plot-heavy movies and series doesn't put as much effort into creating the musical atmosphere as other projects but it still does lift the suspense and deepens the action. So I can't really understand why they didn't use that element. It would've certainly made my experience better.

The characters were fairly built with some surprises hidden in them - thanks to that my attention deepened towards the ending. But I would've appreciated if some of the characters (I'm looking at you, main character) weren't so annoying, irrational and just plain boring. In an emergency situation, like a zombie apocalypse for example, you wouldn't think rationally, would you? I know that, but the main character seriously took that irrationallity way to far. She did not make any effort to find the ones looking for her but did cry and scream at them to find her as she just escaped farther and farther away. She did have to escape if she didn't want to be killed, but the fact that she blamed the others for her misfortune in running away was the icing on the cake for her annoyance.

So did I enjoy it? At some points. Do I recommend it? Not really, at least not if you're looking for an explanation to the live-action film. So overall, with all my points in mind, I'd give this a 7 since it did peak my interest at some points.

If you have time to read this shitty review then i must say pls go and watch this movie . This is criminally wrong if ypu watch shiity seasonal anime and you skipped this gem just becoz it is korean ..

This movie has good pacing for a zombie movie..

Only drowback i see is art ..it is poor .
But i still humbly request you to watch this movie . If you are free on friday night and want to watch some zombie face .then give this movie a try .. i highly recommend to everyone ..and if you end up watching then thank you ... and pls do tell other person to watch this movie coz it deserve score better than it has now ..

I am honestly shook at how bad the rating was for this. I went in with VERY low expectations and it ended up being really good! There’s not a lot of good horror anime out there that is able to really capture that anxious tension and jump scare quality, but this did it!

It’s not really connected to the movie so much but that’s fine. These kinds of situations will happen anywhere a zombie outbreak is happening so it definitely fits into the cannon. The character development and ending was SUPER unexpected in a good way.

If you’re a horror fan I think you’re gunna have fun. ... If you like Train to Busan please go into with the understanding that yes, it’s not as good as that, but that’s being Train to Busan is a masterpiece. This is still a really fun addition to that universe!

This movie is an absolutely horrible anime, but definitely deserves a 4 star for the top-quality sequel, Train to Busan(Live action film).

This is mostly going to be a mini breakdown of both this movie and its sequel, and what sets this hot garbage apart from Train to Busan.

Story(1/10) - First of all, just want to clarify that personally, although Train to Busan is a live-action film, it's way more melodramatic than this animated movie. It works for a zombie movie, it's nothing exceptional, it's just your typical survivors surviving in a zombie apocalypse, but that's not all. The story is overall pretty inconsistent, it would ... rather talk about morals and messages than actually tell a decent story, the pacing is off for certain scenes, and hence the characters will only do specific actions because the movie needs it to. Not to mention the absolute muck of an ending this has, it could've been a 2 if the plot twist didn't exist, completely breaking the characters and the ending of this movie. The reason why this is so high in the rating is that it's nowhere close to the absolute mess numerous (Both live-action and animated) zombie movies attempts to try.

I also didn't mention how every selfless act was for the worse, instead of inspiring people to be selfless and rely on each other, what you get is an action thriller that suggests you to rely solely on yourself.

Art(0/10) - What more can I say, the animation is abysmal to even take a glimpse at, it's not that I hate CGI(Computer generated images) animation, of course, I personally prefer exquisite hand-drawn animation, but I do understand why CGI is commonly used nowadays, not only does it save the studios money, it also saves them way more time if the CGIs are used right. The problem is with the flow and style of it, when you have a movie-budget anime, you could at least expect animations that are less snappy than this pile of junk. Still, fully respect the people behind this movie, most studios nowadays always give little time for the studio behind the animations to work with.

Sound(2/10) - Nothing exceptional, a little bit disturbing at times(Not the definition of being scared, I am saying the meaning where it annoys you trying to enjoy the movie entirely), but the voice acting was overall "Ok". What brings this down to a pile of crap is the awful zombie sound, I understand making a relatively scary zombie sound is hard, especially with all the higher-ups of censorships with their grubby little hands going against you, but you could've at done a better job on the zombie sounds, especially after hearing the other sound effects like bashing or dropping items.

Character(0/10) - The worst aspect of this movie, all the characters are unpredictable and unlikeable. The characters would constantly act differently from what they normally would do considering their motives and personality, all just for the drama in this movie. Not to mention how most characters are really only made for expressing the morals and messages this movie tries to deliver, all of them feel bland and one-sided, hence weak characters that just make the plot feels messier the more they appear.

Enjoyment(2/10) - Dreadful movie to watch through, it has certain scenes that I did enjoy, but it makes up less than 1% of the entire movie, it was dull and repetitive, seen it too many times in other zombie movies. Being repetitive isn't a bad thing, but somehow being a worse version certainly is.

It delivered its messages, but what it traded off was consistent character development and actions, and non-sloppy animation. Love it or hate it, it's a zombie movie that is pretty on par with most of the live-action zombie movies released recently. Hopefully, the sequel of this movie could inspire more creative and inspirational movies to come in the future. There are countless videos online complaining about this movie, and I couldn't agree more after watching this.