Peninsula Film Review: Too bad the dramatization was forced

 With the corona pandemic, we don't have many films to enjoy. Even so, 2020 is the year for Korean cinema after Parasite won the Oscar. This time Popculture.id will review the latest Korean film titled Peninsula

For those of you who haven't, Peninsula is a continuation of the 2016 film, Train to Busan . We are lucky enough, in this 'virus' year, there is a zombie-themed film that is shown through streaming channels. In contrast to Train to Busan, which received a lot of praise, this time the Peninsula film review might be a little 'spicy'. Anyone who has watched it will know why.

Plot

Before discussing further, the film Peninsula itself tells the story of a group of refugees from Korea who settle in Hong Kong and return to their original place which has changed its name to Peninsula. This group of people is tasked with retrieving some of the money left on a zombie-infested Peninsula.

Hoping for the task to be completed quickly, they are stuck for a few days on the Peninsula because of the actions of the natives. In addition to having to avoid zombies, the main character in this film also has to deal with a group of people who have been good at and adapted to zombies. War broke out and a struggle for money ensued. Who would have thought that the people on the Peninsula who had adapted would actually want to get out of this hell.

Entertaining Movies

Even though you have read this review, you should watch this film with a positive mind. Although Peninsula received poor marks on some critical channels, it's actually quite a fun movie to watch. Just like other action films, Peninsula has succeeded in building the atmosphere of battle and fierce conflict between its characters.

These include the post apocalyptic technologies of the Peninsula dwellers and the human vs zombie entertainment provided by the militarists of the Peninsula. While watching, you will be reminded of the cars in the Mad Max movie or the zombie fighting arena in The Walking Dead series . The issue of racism raised in this film also has a sufficient portion. Affirming that Peninsula is not made just for entertainment.

Annoying Dialogue

When it comes to shortcomings, the thing that is lacking in this film is the dialogue. This film presents a mixed dialogue of three languages. First Korean, then Chinese (Hong Kong) and English.

I don't have a problem when some characters are in Chinese. But when they use English, my comfort is disturbed. Not demeaning the actors who play, in fact the use of language can be uniform if it feels difficult. If you don't believe me you can watch the film and listen to the actors talk using English dialogue that sounds like Google Translate.

Pretentious Dramatization

I understand very well that Peninsula is a continuation of the movie Train To Busan . Because it considers the formula in the first film to be successful, this film again uses a variety of dramatizations in every scene. The climax of all the dramatization is at the end of the story, when the main characters are about to leave the Peninsula.

The formula for dramatization a la Train to Busan clearly fails in this film. Why? Because the characters in this film are not helpless people like in the movie Train to Busan . Almost all of the characters in this film have strong survival instincts, skills to use firearms to god-level driving skills.

As a result, the dramatization at the end of the story becomes bland and pretentious. How can we feel emotion and sadness if previously we saw the main characters driving cars like Vin Diesel and shooting guns like John Wick?