PENINSULA : Tuesday 25th August 2020.

'PENINSULA' which I saw at my local multiplex cinema earlier this week is a MA15+ Rated South Korean post zombie apocalyptic action horror film, is the standalone sequel to 2016's 'Train to Busan' and is Directed by Yeon Sang-ho who also Directed that first instalment. This film was selected to be shown at this years Cannes Film Festival which was subsequently cancelled for reasons of COVID-19. And so the film was released in its native South Korea in mid-July, went on limited release in Australia two weeks ago and in the US last week. The film cost US$16M to make and has so far grossed US$48M with US$27M of that haul coming from its local audience. It is also the first time since mid-March that the total global Box Office for a new film release has achieved over US$1M. The film has generated mostly mixed or average Reviews so far.

Set four years following the total decimation of South Korea in 'Train to Busan', we learn through an American chat show that the entire Korean peninsula has been quarantined from the rest of the world, and following the zombie outbreak it took just one single day for the government to collapse as the apocalypse spread rapidly through the nation. We then join Marine Captain Jung-seok (Gang Dong-won) at the wheel of his car attempting to drive to a port so that he, his sister, her husband Chul-min (Kim Do-yoon) and his young nephew can board an evacuation boat bound for Hong Kong. En route he passes a family with a young child in desperate need of a lift, and pleading with him for a pick-up. Jung-seok ignores the woman's cries for help and keeps on driving, focused on arriving at their destination safely and in time. Having boarded the ship, sometime later crammed in like sardines, Jung-seok is alerted by one of his men that Hong Kong is now refusing entry of their ship, and as such they are being diverted to Japan. What Jung-seok doesn't realise is that one of the other passengers on the same deck where his sister, her husband and nephew are sitting is infected, and quickly turns zombie. In the ensuing chaos, the young nephew becomes infected and is being cradled by his mother. Jung-seok returns to the deck, kills as many of the marauding zombies as he can and is forced to leave behind his nephew and his mother. Chul-min returns from fetching something for his family to eat, only to be prevented from entering the cabin by Jung-seok, instead watching the horror unfold from behind a closed glass door.

Now four years later we find Jung-seok and Chul-min living in the ghettos of Hong Kong. Jung-seok is woken from his slumber by four heavies who demand that their boss wants to meet with him. It seems that the boss man has an offer for the two of them plus two others to return to the port city of Incheon on the peninsula to locate an abandoned food supply truck that contains a stash of US cash dollars amounting to twenty million bucks. On the promise of a half share of the proceeds for bringing back the cash, the gathered four agree and the next day are on a boat bound for Incheon. The next evening, they arrive under cover of darkness and are able to locate the abandoned truck after some searching in the general vicinity of where the boss man gave his instructions as to its approximate whereabouts. The four are able to escape in the truck, after being chased down by a horde of zombies.

Believing that it's now a simple journey back to the port and the awaiting boat to take them back to Hong Kong and a new life of wealth and freedom, the four are ambushed by a rogue militia outfit known as Unit 631, led by the ruthless Sergeant Hwang (Kim Min-jae). Jung-seok gets thrown out of the truck, while Chul-min hides in the back. The other two die from the ambush. Jung-seok is then rescued by two sisters - Joon (Lee Re), who is very adept at high speed, fast manoeuvres behind the wheel of a 4WD drives the car away from the scene, and her younger sister Yu-jin (Lee Ye-won).

The three arrive at a hideout, where the children live with their mother Min-jung (Lee Jung-hyun) and grandfather Elder Kim (Kwon Hae-hyo). Jung-seok quickly comes to the realisation that Min-jung is the lady that had asked for a hitch four years ago, but for now he doesn't divulge this.

The truck, now in the possession of Unit 631, arrives at the militia's compound. Chul-min is then discovered hiding in the rear and is taken prisoner, and forced to take part in an arena cat & mouse game of zombie survival with a group of other captives. Private Kim (Kim Kyu-baek) a lowly supply operative and Captain Seo (Koo Kyo-hyun) the head honcho of Unit 631 discover the stash of cash in the truck, and secretly devise a cunning plan to get themselves off the peninsula with the truck, while keeping their escape plans from the belligerent Hwang. Meanwhile, Min-jung learns from Jung-seok that there is a ship at Incheon Port waiting to extract him. She then decides to steal the truck from the compound so that the five of them can escape the peninsula together. At this point Jung-seok comes clean that they had met before. Min-jung tells him not to worry as she can't remember him, as thirty-one cars passed them by that day without stopping. The next evening after sundown (because these zombies have limited vision in the dark), close to Unit 631's compound, Joon, Yu-jin, and Elder Kim are explicitly instructed to wait in the car, while Jung-seok and Min-jung sneak inside, where they discover the truck and encounter Private Kim.

Jung-seok learns from Kim (held at gunpoint by Min-jung that Chul-min is alive in the compound and seeks to rescue him. Inside, the arena zombie survival game is in full swing with Chul-min in the middle of the fray. Jung-seok kills numerous zombies, and sets up a smoke screen so that he and Chul-min can make their escape, killing several Unit 631 soldiers in the process. Chul-min is however, shot and killed in a gunfight by Hwang. 

Jung-seok is then saved by Min-jung and the two quickly escape the compound in the truck with many Unit 631 soldiers, including Hwang and Seo, giving chase in their own souped up vehicles. Meanwhile, Joon, Yu-jin and Elder Kim have arrived to lend support in their 4WD to Jung-seok and Min-jung by helping them to out manoeuvre and out run the militia vehicles. In the ensuing chase, Jung-seok notices a glass tunnel in which are trapped a large horde of zombies, that he had observed when he first arrived. He deliberately shoots and shatters the glass panelling, freeing the horde inside, which then quickly overrun Hwang's vehicle, killing Hwang and his driver. 

The five then continue their journey onto Incheon dockside to rendezvous with their boat. Seo however, rams into Joon's 4WD and then holds her at gunpoint. Elder Kim is critically shot by Seo as he is defending Yu-jin, and in the fray Min-jung is shot in the leg by Seo, as he makes his getaway in the truck aiming for the boat and now his share of half the proceeds of the US$20M haul. He hurriedly drives the truck up into the cargo hold of the ship, to be greeted by the Hong Kong henchmen who brokered the deal with the original four. Thinking he is home and hosed, Seo is shot at point blank range by one of the henchmen who unloads his pistol into him. As Seo is slumped over the steering wheel bleeding out, he musters the strength to slam the truck into reverse, hits the accelerator and reverses the truck onto the cargo holds gate, so preventing it from closing. In rush a horde of zombies, who in no time have killed everyone inside. 

The four still grieving over the death of Elder Kim, then spot a United Nations military transport helicopter on approach, and using fireworks to donate their location, direct it to land on the port. Min-jung asks that Jung-seok bring Joon and Yu-jin to the helicopter, while she clears the path of zombies. Min-jung then traps herself in a truck and presses on the horn repeatedly, so as to attract the zombies to her and in turn sacrifice herself so that the three can escape. Jung-seok recalls that he left Min-jung standing four years earlier, and won't let that happen a second time, so returns and kills the zombies trapping her inside the truck. She quickly makes the run to the helicopter, and Jung-seok covers her by shooting the zombie horde. The four board the helicopter and escape the peninsula.

I have to say that I had higher hopes for 'Peninsula' off the back of 2016's stand out 'Train to Busan', but those hopes went largely unrealised. 'Peninsula' certainly looks the part in all its post-apocalyptic dystopian gore inducing glory, but this film borrows extensively from 'Mad Max : Beyond Thunderdome', 'World War Z' and the more recent 'Fast & Furious' instalments with a heavy reliance on obvious CGI effects for the high speed car chase sequences that look as though they were pulled straight out of early versions of the video game 'Grand Theft Auto'. Whilst its predecessor set the bar very high, this stand alone sequel fails to reach those dizzy heights instead relying on standard genre tropes, a predictable plot after the initial set up, and an ending that you can spot from a mile away. That said, it has enough sustained action to maintain the interest, I did feel invested in the main characters and the film is entertaining enough to warrant your attention if this type of fast paced CGI heavy zombie gore fest is your thing.

'Peninsula' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-