Train to Busan
Well Go USA Entertainment | Release Date: July 22, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenFeb 10, 2022
Train to Busan is a cleverly concentrated shot of zombie terror. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyClark CollisAug 24, 2016
The result is first-class throughout. Read full review
80
The Telegraph Rebecca HawkesNov 3, 2016
An emotional pounding this brutal leaves you yearning for a little softness, and by the time the film’s ending rolls around, a scene which by rights should be overly sentimental...feels not only allowable, but blissfully, cathartically welcome. Read full review
80
CineVueAdam LowesNov 3, 2016
We can all look forward to Hollywood completely dropping the ball with its inevitable remake, but until then, Train to Busan is the year's best genre offering by a zombie mile. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghAug 4, 2016
It’s a zombie movie that, amidst the giddy bloodshed, allows room for philosophical questions about our fundamental responsibilities to one another. It may not be something we’ve never seen before, but it’s something we can benefit from seeing again. Read full review
80
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJul 21, 2016
Often chaotic but never disorienting, the movie’s spirited set pieces — like a wriggling ribbon of undead clinging doggedly to the last compartment — owe much to Lee Hyung-deok’s wonderfully agile cinematography. Read full review
80
Village VoiceSimon AbramsJul 20, 2016
Yeon's patient direction and clever plot twists make Seok-woo's transformation from selfish antihero into brave caregiver consistently compelling. Read full review
80
VarietyMaggie LeeJul 18, 2016
Train to Busan pulses with relentless locomotive momentum. As an allegory of class rebellion and moral polarization, it proves just as biting as Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi dystopia “Snowpiercer,” while delivering even more unpretentious fun. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezAug 4, 2016
Best of all, the story moves as fast as that bullet train, careening from one impossible predicament to the next while the characters jostle to survive. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJul 22, 2016
The most purely entertaining zombie film in some time. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJul 21, 2016
The key to the fun is that Yeon eschews lookie-loo gore for thrilling set pieces: his fleet, imaginative action scenes recall Brad Bird’s crisp transition to real people in peril when he made his “Mission Impossible” movie. Read full review
70
Screen DailyJason BechervaiseJul 18, 2016
Although it lacks the layers evident in Yeon’s acclaimed animations (including the thematically-linked Seoul Station), this is still an entertaining ride, as well as providing political commentary when it overtly references the Korean government’s response to the MERS virus alongside commenting on the country’s class system. Read full review
67
The Film StageMichael SnydelJul 25, 2016
It’s another well-made, culturally specific zombie film, but it could have been something much more filling. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 13, 2020
Busan doesn’t reinvent the zombie movie so much as make it work well enough that you buy in — good performances, a nice selection of moments of “sacrifice,” the usual “What are they THINKING?” twists. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezJul 17, 2016
When divorced of message-mongering, the film’s scare tactics are among the most distinctive that the zombie canon has ever seen. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfOct 21, 2016
As a piece of gore, Train to Busan takes the swiftest path from A to Z. Read full review
58
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJul 18, 2016
For almost 45 minutes, Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan is on pace to become the best, most urgent zombie movie since “28 Days Later.” And then — at once both figuratively and literally — this broad Korean blockbuster derails in slow-motion, sliding off the tracks and bursting into a hot mess of generic moments and digital fire. Read full review
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