Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan is one of the best zombie movies in the canon. So much so that most people forget that it’s part of a universe that includes two other movies (Peninsula and Seoul Station). Which is why horror ghouls were excited to hear he’d be bringing zombies to the mall in Colony this year. While this film doesn’t live up to the high bar the director set for himself, it’s a good time, and that makes it hard to ignore he’s one of the filmmakers keeping the George A. Romero zombie energy going in these modern times.
Colony sets the stage with a scientist, Suh Yeong-Cheol (Koo Kyo-Hwan), threatening a bio-terrorist attack at the Dongwoo-ri Building, which is home to a rather large mall. The building also happens to be the place biotechnology professor Kwon Se-jeong (Gianna Jun) is scheduled to give a presentation at a conference. She ends up being one of the small band of survivors fighting to stay alive while trapped in a building filled with zombies.
Se-jeong is a likable leading lady because she refuses to shrink herself. She’s not demure; she knows she’s smart, and she kind of uses her ability to be right and alone to save the world. People, including her ex-husband, continue wondering why she doesn’t want to fit into the Mary Sue mold and pursue friendships and new relationships. However, I think it’s refreshing to have a badass who knows what she stands for and isn’t willing to settle. She’ll save teens from getting themselves killed, and will do the brave thing that no one else can do, but she’s not impressed with humanity, and that’s a relatable mood. More importantly, Jun crafts an anti-hero that we want to have a beer with and root for. We have been begging for women characters who don’t bend and change for the sake of being accepted. This is one, and in a perfect world we would get so many more like her.
This film makes the zombies interesting in that they learn fast and move even faster. That’s right! Colony is bringing fast zombies back just to crank up the anxiety. Watching the eerily choreographed group of roving zombies gives us some really cool pictures and quite a bit of terrifying imagery. To make matters even worse, they are connected to Yeong-Cheol. Which means they can feed him information and he can do the same. That makes it difficult for our band of misfits to stay one step ahead of this scary situation. To even further complicate things, the bioterrorist doing the most also claims to be the cure. Meaning, authorities are afraid to kill him, and he knows it.
Colony scratches the Korean zombie itch, and then some, and quickly proves it’s not just another Dawn of the Dead rehash. Yeon and Choi Gyu-seok’s script definitely has thoughts about technology, individualism vs. group mentality, etc. It is also very aware that horror is inherently political. While the themes and ideas pair well with Romero’s zombie work, it’s very much its own bloody little film. Packed with cool set pieces, heroic women, and characters living in morally grey worlds, the movie brings enough drama and action to keep you invested.
Even if the runtime isn’t completely earned, it’s hard to not see the vision and applaud it. Amid all of the betrayal there are some repetitive bits making you painfully aware of the time. There are also a few moments where things are overexplained. That last criticism could be because media literacy is dead though. Many creatives are struggling right now as society grows less curious by the hour. Colony is nowhere near as bad about repeating objectives and relationships as some TV show. However, every time it revisits something it adds to the already heavily padded runtime.
While Colony didn’t quite meet the expectations many of us had for it, it’s an amazing ride nonetheless. Most of the notes are minor compared to what’s been happening to the zombie subgenre these last few years. This film lets monsters be a threat again while getting to the commentary we come to the genre for. It doesn’t get lost in sentimental side quests like quite a few zombie films the last few years either. If this were a video game, there would be no notes as we all play the hell out of it. That’s part of why it’s hard to be mad at this movie. It knows what we want and it gives it to us in a stylish manner for just over two hours. Sang-ho might never escape the shadow of his brilliant Train to Busan. However, he’s not letting that stop him from making this subgenre a bloody fantastic time while he keeps trying to top himself.
