Let’s stop off at Seoul Station and take a glance at Yeon Sang-Ho, who hit the international scene with Train to Busan—a claustrophobic and high-pace zombie thriller that took a frank look at how differences and prejudices can all magnify when under stress. And hey, it was pretty fun ride on top of that. He had some somewhat lesser-known followups like Peninsula, but with Colony, he returns to the undead theme with a twist—how does it hold up?
The individual components aren’t super original by themselves—we have a plot that’s sort of akin to Die Hard, as a cynical young scientist (Koo Kyo-Hwan) kick starts an outbreak in a South Korean skyscraper, albeit one that’s fungus-based (sort of like Last of Us). We follow a group of survivors trapped in the building, from biologist Jun Jyi-Hun to security guard Ji-Chang Wook, who in a change are able to adapt and learn in tune with the contagion…except that the infected are changing and evolving too.
The execution’s key though—the pace is great, and everything’s as visceral as you could want, with the visuals getting more and more over the top with the spreading mycelium and the synchronized nature of our not-zombies here. Most of the characters aren’t super well developed, but you get enough glimpses of them that there’s something, with those deaths that do matter hitting as hard as they need to.
Communication’s the theme here—talking about a world that’s ever interlinked yet seemingly more reticent to talk than ever. Mistakes pile on from assumptions here, and as in some other works there’s the ever-key satire at work here as our local politicians try to chase the easiest solution that dangles in front of their eyes. At the same time, there’s also the connections that can save--and you're hoping for just that one to get through.
Once again it’s not a revolution in the genre, but it’s definitely a fun watch—things are always escalating, developments are happening, and both characters and antagonists are changing throughout. Between wild effects and the less than subtle jabs at reality, for fans of Busan or 28 Days Later, this one’s definitely worth a look.
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