The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMovie reviews

Peninsula

Peninsula | Movie review
3 November 2020
Jake Cudsi
Avatar
Jake Cudsi
3 November 2020

Movie and show review

Jake Cudsi

Peninsula

★★★★★

Release date

6th November 2020

Certificate

UPG121518 title=

Links

TwitterFacebook

Four years on from Train to Busan, released in 2016 to critical acclaim, comes Peninsula, the third and final instalment of director Yeon Sang-Ho’s zombie trilogy. Hardly stopping for breath, Peninsula is a ferociously paced, erratic follow-up that’s unlikely to prove as beloved as its predecessor, although it has been invited into the Cannes 2020 selection, just as the first film was.

Peninsula has been promoted as a standalone sequel, and its designs on a new audience unfamiliar with Train to Busan are immediately clear with a swift, three-minute news segment, helpfully playing on an American chat show. In the first moments the events of four years ago – and all of the essentials since – are explained: there was a virus breakout in South Korea; the Korean peninsula became totally overrun; all survivors sought refuge abroad in often unwelcoming places. One such survivor is our protagonist, Jung-seok (Gang Dong-Won), a distinguished soldier who’s displaced to Hong Kong with his brother-in-law.

Natives haven’t taken kindly to their new neighbours; even the local authorities in Hong Kong have refused so far to grant Koreans refugee status. The unhappy Koreans have been forced into life on the breadline, many apparently driven to crime. Destitute, outcast and emotionally exhausted, Jung-Seok and his brother-in-law are recruited for a perilous mission by nefarious types, and have little option but to take the job. This is about as deep any social commentary or subtext gets – the rest is action, with little talk and not a whole lot else.

A very understated, no-frills soundtrack, which occasionally sounds suspiciously like preset melodies from keyboards or Bandcamp, sets a confusing tone. Meanwhile a wealth of visual effects artists are put to work for an indulgent, excessive car chase that takes up an inordinate number of minutes and looks a little like something out of a video game. A stellar cast are up to task, however, and make an erratically paced, volatile movie just interesting enough to stay alert to.

★★★★★

Jake Cudsi

Peninsula is released nationwide on 6th November 2020.

Watch the trailer for Peninsula here:

Related Itemsaction horrorapocalypsegang dong wonhong konghorrowreviewzombie

More in Movie reviews

For the Sake of Vicious

★★★★★
Lilly Subbotin
Read More

I Blame Society

★★★★★
Ben Flanagan
Read More

Why Did You Kill Me?

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

Me You Madness

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

Portal

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Steelers: The World’s First Gay and Inclusive Rugby Club

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

The Year Earth Changed

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Sensation

★★★★★
Francis Nash
Read More

Beast Beast

★★★★★
Ben Flanagan
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Jake Cudsi

Peninsula

★★★★★

Release date

6th November 2020

Certificate

UPG121518 title=

Links

TwitterFacebook

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • London’s best pizzas for takeaway and delivery
    Food & Drinks
  • The Year Earth Changed
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Cruise – Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • SYML – Dim | EP review
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Steelers: The World’s First Gay and Inclusive Rugby Club
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Kaleo – Surface Sounds
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Cruise – Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • A Splinter of Ice at Cheltenham Everyman Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Birdy at Wilton’s Music Hall Online
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Mare of Easttown
    ★★★★★
    sky
  • Cruise – Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Birdy at Wilton’s Music Hall Online
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Mare of Easttown
    ★★★★★
    sky
  • Me You Madness
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • SYML – Dim | EP review
    ★★★★★
    Album review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Little Wars Online | Theatre review
Ten places to have a meal before the lockdown – also al fresco