Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula
ARP Sélection | Release Date: August 21, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
16
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Screen DailyJason BechervaiseAug 20, 2020
Riveting from start to finish. Read full review
75
Film ThreatAlan NgAug 22, 2020
If you’re a fan of zombie stories, Peninsula absolutely works. Writers Joo-Suk Park and Sang-Ho Yeon do a spectacular job of world-building beyond the first film. Read full review
75
ObserverRafael MotamayorAug 18, 2020
You see, instead of staging a character-driven dramatic thriller with zombies like the first film, Peninsula presents a world hit by a zombie outbreak that responds by turning into a ridiculous, cartoonish dystopia — and it is much better for it. Read full review
73
PolygonKaren HanAug 21, 2020
Even without being compared to Train to Busan, Peninsula lacks the grounding to be able to stand alone. There’s never a dull moment, but there’s nothing to make a lasting impression, either. Read full review
70
IGNMatt FowlerAug 19, 2020
Peninsula feels fairly derivative when compared to the tighter and more terrifying Train to Busan, but on its own, as an expansion of this universe, it's a rollicking ride through a hollowed-out hellscape. It's almost a complete genre shift, but not an unrewarding one. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerAug 19, 2020
Less initially mawkish than the first film and more entertainingly overblown, Peninsula keeps to the established paradigm that the living are far worse than the dead, then goes on a gonzo excursion through a wrecked city. Read full review
67
Original-CinLiam LaceyAug 13, 2020
Relentlessly episodic and missing the taut focus of the first film, Peninsula compensates with overkill, populating the screen with long-stretches of CGI action (Yeon’s background is in animation) including nighttime car chases and oodles of zombie splatter. Read full review
65
SlashfilmHoai-Tran BuiAug 24, 2020
Train to Busan may have injected some life into the genre once again with its surprisingly heartfelt narrative, but Peninsula brings it back to those B-movie trappings. It’s not particularly clever or groundbreaking. But you know what? It’s pretty damn fun. Read full review
60
CineVueChristopher MachellNov 29, 2020
Director Yeon Sang-ho’s Peninsula is a solid follow up to his original, with just about enough shambling momentum to distract from a fairly uninspired plot. Read full review
60
EmpireJohn NugentOct 29, 2020
While it doesn’t quite boast the bullet-train speed or slickness of the original, it’s not a cheap replacement bus imitator, either. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterElizabeth KerrAug 26, 2020
Peninsula suffers the same type of sequelitis that suggests a second entry must be more/bigger/louder than its predecessor. Where Train to Busan’s two hours were impeccably paced and every frame meticulously used, Peninsula spins its wheels in between its admittedly impressive key set pieces. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisAug 20, 2020
Here, after the gunfire dies down, terror at times gives way to a melancholy that can be quite affecting even if the message remains familiar: We have met the zombie, and it is us. Read full review
58
ConsequenceRobert DanielsAug 19, 2020
Peninsula combines components from I Am Legend, Mad Max, and the Fast & Furious series for a nonsensical joy ride that, while entertaining, lacks the sharpness of its predecessor. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJen YamatoAug 22, 2020
The sequel is a stab at world-expanding that veers off the rails as it reaches for dazzle over depth, rounding out the hit film series somewhere between a whimper and a bang. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoAug 21, 2020
While it’s undeniably a sophomore slump in this franchise, Yeon’s skill with action keeps it from dipping too far that we should give up hope he can find the track again in another installment. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 20, 2020
Though Yeon can still deliver memorable frights, like the car horn that literally does wake the dead, he can’t decide what kind of movie to make. So he does a genre mashup, tops it with a sappy ending, and hopes for the best. The result is decidedly uneven. Read full review
50
The Film StageJosh LewisAug 19, 2020
By the time it reaches its broad, emotionally manipulative finale, it does have some refreshingly optimistic ideas about small, sacrificial gestures making a difference and that choosing emotion over logic while dooming us in other zombie movies is also what makes humanity worth saving in the first place. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 19, 2020
“Peninsula” is basically a digital effects dumbing down of “Train to Busan.” Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubShannon MillerAug 19, 2020
While the first Train To Busan was an affecting, character-driven tale of grief and redemption, Peninsula flounders in generic spectacle. Even fans may wonder if there are any bones left to pick on this franchise. Read full review
50
Paste MagazineJim VorelAug 18, 2020
Director Yeon Sang-ho, who staged genuinely tense sequences in the first film, just seems suddenly out of his element here when expected to produce a grander action spectacle. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChuck BowenAug 17, 2020
Peninsula feels like the work of an artist who misunderstood his past triumph, squandering his talent for the sake of a pandering, halfhearted encore. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid EhrlichAug 18, 2020
Yeon eventually just throws his hands up and surrenders to the cheesy spectacle of it all with a frenzied third act that finds the entire cast in a death race to the border. It’s here — in an amusingly unmoored but ultimately exhausting sequence that looks like someone trying to recreate “Fury Road” on a Nintendo 64 — that Yeon stops being able to afford his own ambition, and the film’s budget suddenly feels like a rubber band stretched over a hula-hoop. Read full review
40
The GuardianPhil HoadNov 10, 2020
A film about a virus-ravaged country under lockdown should be able to hit cogent parallels at will at the moment – but a numbing repetition is sadly the main payout. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter DebrugeJul 31, 2020
Whereas most of the movie takes place in a grubby, blue-tinged murk — a blend of hokey day-for-night lensing and virtual set extensions that’s badly suited for home viewing, but might look frightening in darkened theaters — day breaks just in time for a big, Michael Bay-style climax. The film has clipped along at a reasonably brisk pace until this point, only to downshift into a laughably protracted slow-motion finale, full of gratuitous lens flares and overwrought strings. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleCary DarlingAug 20, 2020
With its bigger budget and wider scope but less gripping story, “Peninsula” is much more of a generic, CGI-reliant action movie that often feels like a video game coupled with a few pages ripped from the scripts of “Mad Max” and “Escape From New York.” Read full review
20
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 21, 2020
The zombie sequences are strictly pro-forma; the undead are treated mostly as a nuisance rather than a genuine threat this time around, which is probably intentional. The car chases are debilitatingly fake-looking and try to make up for their flatness with speed, to little effect. Read full review
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