TRAIN TO BUSAN

Title : Train to Busan

Hangul : 부산행

Hanja : 釜山行

Revised Romanization : Busanhaeng

Language : Korean

Release Date : 13 May 2016 (Cannes)

20 July 2016 (South Korea)

Directed By : Yeon Sang-ho

Distributed By : Next Entertainment World

Train to Busan (Hangul: 부산행; RR: Busanhaeng) is a 2016 South Korean zombie apocalyptic action thriller film directed by Yeon Sang-ho and starring Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, and Ma Dong-seok. The film takes place on a train to Busan, as a zombie apocalypse suddenly breaks in the country and compromises the safety of the passengers.

The film premiered in the Midnight Screenings section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on 13 May. On 7 August, the film set a record as the first Korean film of 2016 to break the audience record of over 10 million theatergoers. The film serves as a reunion for Gong Yoo and Jung Yu-mi, who both starred in the 2011 film The Crucible.

An animated prequel, Seoul Station, also directed by Sang-ho, was released less than a month later.

Plot

Seok-woo is a fund manager, workaholic, and divorced single father to his young daughter, Soo-an. For her birthday, she asks him to take her to Busan to see her mother. Although reluctant at first due to his work, he changes his mind after his mother gives him a video of Soo-an's solo recital of "Aloha ʻOe" that he had skipped; his daughter did not complete her performance, knowing he was not present. On the way to the station, they encounter a speeding convoy of fire trucks, ambulances and police cars, and pass by a burning building. They board the KTX in Seoul. Others on the same train include tough, surly working-class husband Sang-hwa and his pregnant wife Seong-kyeong; a high school baseball team; rich and selfish COO Yon-suk; elderly sisters In-gil and Jong-gil; and a traumatized homeless man who has witnessed a zombie attack.

As the train departs, a convulsing, ill young woman boards with a bite wound on her leg. She becomes a zombie and attacks a train attendant, quickly spreading infection in the train. Seok-woo receives a call from his co-worker warning him that "violent riots" have erupted in Korea. Cheerleader Jin-hee, her crush baseball player Yong-guk, and several passengers manage to escape to an uninfected car. Sang-hwa tries to barricade the door, then realizes the zombies can't open it and merely charge at the sight of humans. Seong-kyeong uses water and newspaper to cover up the windows, which tricks the zombies into thinking the uninfected passengers are not there. News broadcasts report zombie outbreaks throughout the country. The locomotive engineer alerts everyone over the intercom that the train will not go to Cheonan, but will stop at Daejeon Station, where all passengers will be quarantined. Seok-woo calls his co-worker to arrange that he and his daughter not be quarantined. When the train stops at Daejeon, the rest of the passengers head to the main exit, but Seok-woo, Soo-an, and the homeless man head to a different hall. However, the passengers discover all soldiers and police in the station have been infected. In the ensuing chaos, the group is separated. Soo-an, Seong-kyeong, In-gil, and the homeless man reach a car in the center of the train and barricade themselves in a bathroom. The locomotive engineer restarts the train to head to Busan, where a successful quarantine zone has reportedly been established. Seok-woo, Sang-hwa, and Yong-guk barely manage to board one of the rear cars as the train departs the station.

Learning that Soo-an, In-gil, Seong-kyeong, and the homeless man are trapped in a car in front of them, Seok-woo, Sang-hwa, and Yong-guk fight their way through zombies to rescue them. Along the way, they discover that zombies cannot see uninfected people in the dark and only react to sounds. They use this advantage to rescue the others and together head to the front cars. However, at the instigation of Yon-suk, the passengers there block the survivors from entering, fearing that they are infected. Unable to fight off a horde of zombies, Sang-hwa sacrifices himself to give the others time to force open the door and enter the car, but In-gil doesn't make it. Yon-suk claims the new arrivals are infected, so the other passengers force them to isolate themselves in the forward vestibule, where Jin-hee joins her now boyfriend Yong-guk. As Yon-suk and other passengers seal them in, Jong-gil looks at her zombified sister In-gil. Angry at Yon-suk and unable to accept her fate, Jong-gil opens the door, allowing the horde of zombies to enter and infect all of the surviving passengers in the main compartment of the car.

Seok-woo receives a call from his coworker, who informs him that Busan has fought off the zombies. However, Seok-woo also learns that it was his company that helped fund a project that caused the outbreak. After the phone call, the train suddenly slows to a stop. A blocked track at the East Daegu train station forces the survivors to stop and search for another train. A runaway train crashes into the infected train, trapping the four remaining survivors. In the process, Seok-woo, Seong-kyeong, Soo-an, and the homeless man are separated from Yong-guk and Jin-hee. Yon-suk, who survived with a train attendant by hiding in a bathroom, manages to escape by pushing the attendant into the zombies. Entering the train where Yong-guk and Jin-hee are hiding, Yon-suk throws Jin-hee into the path of a zombie, and she is bitten by a zombie. Heartbroken, Yong-guk stays with Jin-hee and is bitten when she turns. The locomotive engineer starts a locomotive moving on another track but is killed by zombies (in part by being pushed by Yon-suk) while trying to aid Yon-suk, who boards the locomotive. The homeless man sacrifices himself so that Soo-an and Seong-kyeong can escape with Seok-woo and reach the locomotive. Entering its cab, they encounter an infected Yon-suk, who attacks Seok-Woo, biting his hand before Seok-woo throws him from the vehicle. He puts Soo-an and Seong-kyeong inside the engine room, shows Seong-kyeong how to brake the engine and to not let his daughter see him zombify, says goodbye to his daughter, and goes outside. As he zombifies, he remembers the first time he held his daughter, then throws himself from the locomotive.

Nearing Busan, Soo-an and Seong-kyeong are forced to halt at a blockade and walk through a tunnel. On the other side, soldiers are stationed at a checkpoint to defend the perimeter against zombies. Unable to see Soo-an and Seong-kyeong clearly in dark, the soldiers are instructed by their commander to shoot them both. Just before the trigger can be pulled, the soldiers faintly hear Soo-an tearfully singing "Aloha 'Oe". Realizing they're survivors, the soldiers rush out to accompany them in.