Train to Busan marks director Sang-ho Yeon's live action debut after primarily helming animated features (including a recent zombie one) and for the most part it's a pretty impressive debut, despite not really bringing anything new to the genre. The movie is actually doing quite well in South Korea since zombies aren't something you see much of over there. In fact, it's doing so well that it's even breaking some box office records, like highest single day gross with over $9-million.

As far as the story goes, the movie focuses on a workaholic father who's in the process of a bitter divorce, which is affecting his young daughter in many ways. The father can give her anything she wants for her birthday, but all she wants is to see her mom, who lives quite a distance away in a city called Busan. They decide to take a train the next day, unaware that something sinister is spreading throughout the city and will eventually make its way onto the train via an infected female passenger. We soon learn that people are turning on each other in violent ways and there seems to be no stopping it. This leaves the father, daughter, and several other surviving passengers to come together in an attempt to survive the ordeal and make their way to the nearest safe location, which just so happens to be Busan.

Like the premise suggests, this is essentially just "zombies on a train," which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The tight and compact enclosures makes for some pretty tense scenes, especially considering how fast and vicious these zombies can be. And while most films will have zombies eat and tear people apart, the ones here simply exist to spread, so once someone gets bit they generally turn fairly quick and move on to the next uninfected person. They also movie incredibly fast and in large herds with reckless abandonment, which is very reminiscent to the infected in World War Z. There are also moments where their movements are unnatural and painful looking (especially when they first get infected) making them seem even more menacing.

Sadly the downside to the zombies not ripping people apart is there really isn't much gore throughout the movie, which is a little disappointing. We get a good amount of blood and violence, but nothing too graphic or gratuitous. Though the alternative isn't such a bad thing, as it's replaced by a little heart between the varied passengers that helps us actually care for these people. Like a young teenage couple on their way to a baseball game, a tough guy and his struggling pregnant wife, a couple elderly sisters and, of course, the father who's trying to change his selfish ways. Naturally we also have that one asshole character that only cares for himself and puts everyone else in danger (*shakes fist*).

Each character is given enough time for us to get to know them, but not too long to where it drags down the pace, which is pretty steady from start to finish. And though the characters mainly stay on the train there are a couple parts where they get off for something, so it's not all set in one location, which keeps things fresh and moving along pretty well. So while the movie doesn't give us anything new, it's still competently made, visually appealing, and is pretty damn entertaining. Not to mention it's an improvement over most of the zombie flicks we get nowadays.