Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula

The sequel rides the same rails as the original but doesn’t manage to re-create the kicky nonstop action/tension that made “Busan” so enjoyable.

Amplifies everything about its predecessor-for better and worse-while staying true to its core values.

I feel like [director Yeon Sang-ho] misunderstood what he had the first time around. It seemed like he was just trying to make a "Hollywood" movie [for the sequel], and that's really not what made the first film so great.

Man's inhumanity is a shopworn medley of Hobbes and Bosch, the lot of the zombies to be mere fodder, mown down or picked off.

Not a classic, but I'm invested in the series anyway...the narrative is eloquently done.

It's a sequel suffering from all the things sequels tend to suffer from: familiar tropes, an explosion in special effects, and thematic weightlessness. Now it's bigger, shaggier, and far less focused.

Its long, drawn out CGI set pieces feel weightless and dull, with no tension or excitement to be found on the derelict streets of South Korea.

What "Peninsula" lacks in humanity is made up with spectacular car chases and firearms. Is it as good as "Train to Busan"? No, but it's good enough, in a Hollywood shoot-em-up kind of way.

While it can't quite reach the heights of its predecessor, it's still ambitious, exciting stuff.

Enjoyable at times, but the ties to its predecessor seem forced.