Peninsula; Grade: D+
Peninsula is the continuation of the critically acclaimed zombie film Train to Busan. A team travels to a place called Peninsula, a heist mission in which values a brinks truck worth millions of dollars in duffle bags. What can go wrong?! Well ya know zombies, insane lunatics that have lost their damn mind due to starvation lost of hope, and one selfish scumbag at hand as well... No pressure or anything.
Originally wasn’t going to see this film as I hate Zombie films, but I’ve heard a great amount of praise for Train to Busan as I figured why not give it a try?! Turns out Train to Busan was a pretty damn good film, I liked it more as an action adventure emotional drama piece, as the film only had a couple obnoxious zombie moments. Plus majority of the characters were well written, as you cared for the individuals in that film, bringing some heavy hit emotional moments. So that’s what brought me to Peninsula.
Peninsula was rewarded a Cannes Film Festival certification, while also produced by the streaming service Shudder... Which that was kind of cool to see that logo. Unfortunately Peninsula is just not as good as it’s successor.
I guess for positives some action sequences were cool. Acting was fine from the cast all around, I also felt the makeup design from the zombies have improved from the previous film. I guess lastly I liked how this film ended, not because it ended but it was a pretty thoughtful message at hand.
Where some say they found the plot of this sequel to be ridiculous, I found it to be an interesting follow up. I mean a heist done during a post zombie apocalyptic world? Sounds like fun. The one thing I worry most when it comes to zombie movies, just happened here... It’s incredibly stupid and obnoxious. All the praise and value with the first film, is erased in this sequel as it’s nothing really but a dumb obnoxious zombie film. I really hated the sequence going on, where the rulers of this land treated their peasants with the water trying to avoid getting infected... It’s just a bunch of nonsense. There are plenty of logic issues going on, where characters act completely stupid so they can prevent themselves from securing the bag or escaping this place.
For awhile this film was going for a redeemable couple stars out of five, what killed it for me was the nonstop car chase scene that went on FOREVER. It felt like I was watching one of those Fast and Furious movies or that one film with Jason Statham Death Race... It was driving me nuts. I get that it’s hard to follow up a successful acclaimed genre film, especially as rare like a zombie genre film. But with the potential this sequel had to being fun, it just comes up obnoxious and a bit empty for my taste.
Overall, Peninsula is crap. I don’t recommend this film, I do suggest Train to Busan though. -Mitch Smietana