Seoul Station

Seoul Station (Seoulyeok) (2016)

Runtime: 92 minutes

Directed by: Yeon Sang-Ho

Starring: The voices of Ryu Seung-Ryong, Shim Eun-Kyung, Lee Joon, Lee Sang-Hee

From: Finecut/Studio Dadashow

Oh, why couldn't have this been good?

August of 2016 I got to see Train to Busan on the big screen. It was a rotten day and due to some paint-huffers it was not the best theatrical experience either; yet even with all that it was still a great movie and I could recognize that. Sometime next month I'll watch that again so I can give a review with less bitching & moaning and that'll be an exclusive to the Best of 2016 list I will post. Yes I never created one of those yet, let alone Best of 2017.

Anyhow, this is an animated prequel that came out after Train to Busan and yet it was just last night that I got around to it. To say that I am massively disappointed with this would be putting it lightly. Busan is awesome as you follow a bunch of interesting characters (some of whom are rather lousy human beings) as they deal with lots and lots of fast-moving zombies, which could be argued are more like the infected people of Nightmare City or Planet Terror. There are many exciting moments and as it's a Korean movie, not all of those characters survive to the end and yes, there is a crying child but even that was done well.

Here, I did not really care about the few people we had to follow. They included an annoying homeless man, and a father looking for his daughter... who is a young lady that has become a prostitute. Hardcore this isn't. They are not the most pleasant of people so it paled in comparison to Busan. So did the zombie attack scenes, the exciting moments, the scenes filled with pathos, etc. TtB is just better in every way. Then near the end there is a surprising twist, which could have elevated things... yet it doesn't. Instead it's the type of thing that'll likely leave a sour taste in your mouth.

The bitch of it all is that this barely has anything to do with Busan and does nothing to enrich TtB's story. I feel there's no real need to ever see this even if you love Train to Busan and the novelty of this being animation wears off rather quickly. At least this doesn't retroactively ruin TtB.