Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula

The last zombie movie to play theaters before the real pandemic started was Block Z. That was a Philippines production set in a medical school, so you could show up in a Times Square multiplex wearing a mask and surgical gloves while looking like you were just doing cosplay. Block Z was a pretty good unofficial sequel to 2016’s Train to Busan, continuing the South Korean hit’s emphasis on likable characters trying to save their own humanity while dodging flesh-eating freaks. Peninsula doesn’t care so much about that kind of thing. Instead, Busan’s first official sequel goes with the high concept of a heist film sending desperate crooks back to the quarantined zombie zone of Incheon. The title could’ve been Food Truck to Incheon. Anyway, Peninsula retains a guilt-plagued protagonist, but the rest of the story plays more like 2018’s zombie-free The Hurricane Heist – plus a detour into Escape from New York territory. Nothing seems terribly generic, though, and Peninsula deservedly did decently enough in South Korea despite being a disappointing start to an attempted franchise. The movie is certainly more entertaining than the quieter horror pics keeping American drive-ins going through this summer.

[R]