Director Yeon Sang-ho's excellent TRAIN TO BUSAN took place as a zombie apocalypse broke out in South Korea, and Yeon's follow-up returns to that now completely decimated world four years down the line. PENINSULA will follow Jung-seok, a former soldier who has managed to escape overseas but is given a mission to return to the devastated Korean peninsula and unexpectedly meets up with survivors.
Arriving in the midst of a pandemic, PENINSULA director/co-writer Yeon Sang-ho told Entertainment Weekly that "The theme for Peninsula was around the question of how we can create hope in a world that is isolated and full of despair, and I believe this question is a very important one today. I thought this subject would resonate with many people today." The sequel is a different beast from the original film, opting for something approaching a horror/heist movie. "After Train to Busan, I pondered the question, 'How can I create an entirely different movie while maintaining the original world?'" said Sang-ho. "The answer to that question was, 'Let’s combine zombies with a fast-paced heist genre!' And so, we approached Peninsula as an action movie and incorporated massive car-chase scenes." This genre switch-up sets the stage for more films set in the TRAIN TO BUSAN universe, and Sang-ho said that he's down for more sequels.
Through Peninsula, I think the world of Train to Busan has been extended, and I think there are many other survivors who live on the peninsula. I would like to work on telling the stories of those people. I may not be directing the movie myself, but I would like to start working on a new movie within this framework.
Our own JimmyO recently reviewed PENINSULA, and while he didn't find it quite as original as its predecessor, he still found it to be a thrilling ride. "PENINSULA is a surprisingly satisfying continuation to TRAIN TO BUSAN," JimmyO said in his review. "Sure it takes a very different turn than the first, and it's not nearly as fresh, yet it still manages to excite with a few creative set-pieces. Much like the first, the film works on an emotional level once we find our core group of leads. Both Gang Dong-Won and Lee Jung-hyun make a charismatic leading duo, enough to warrant investing in their plight. Even with the many other cinematic greats that this sequel borrows from, it still manages to create an enjoyable zombie movie-going experience. It may be mostly just a basic popcorn flick, but it's still a pretty damn good one at that." You can check out the rest of JimmyO's review right here.