There's perhaps always a big of a twinge of disappointment when a filmmaker comes along whose debut work is truly epic, in this case Train to Busan, but the films that follow are good in their own right but also a reminder that sometimes lightning doesn't seem to strike twice.
Such is the case with Korean writer/director Yeon Sang-ho, whose zombie flick Train to Busan made him a household name with its mesmerizing mixture of thrilling visuals and emotional resonance. With his latest film, Colony, Sang-ho gives us a film that is absolutely a banger to watch even if it doesn't quite live up to Train to Busan. For me, I'd easily place it second in Sang-ho's filmography ahead of Peninsula and the animated feature Seoul Station.
In this film, we're back to a single setting even if that single setting does happen to be a rather large office building. Colony gives us a disgruntled former employee who shows up at a biotech conference to seek revenge against his former employer by unleashing a zombie manifesting fungus in the building. Led by a pretty remarkable Jun Ji-hyun (My Sassy Girl, Assassination) as a biotech professor attending the conference, a small group of survivors are faced with doing whatever they can to survive.
While Colony lacks the emotional depth of Train to Busan, it's still a film that dazzles and it's definitely a film that stands above a good majority of the zombie flicks being released these days. While comparing the film to Train to Busan leads to disappointment, Colony is not a disappointing film.
Colony is a blast to watch. The zombie infection had me trippin' throughout, a fungal masterpiece layered even more masterfully because of how these zombies develop, learn, and evolve. It's impressive to watch and frequently quite terrifying.
The ensemble in Colony is impressive. Jun Ji-hyun is an absolute dazzler whose early scenes can't quite prepare us for the characters evolution throughout the film. Koo Kyo-hwan impresses as the film's genuine baddie, a man whose initial motivations are sympathetic even as they become increasingly severe. Shin Hyeon-been, Kim Shin-rock, and others also have major moments to really shine here.
I've long been a fan of Korean cinema, zombie and otherwise, and Colony is no exception. If these zombies weren't so darn terrifying, you'd likely be giggling with delight whether watching them spew white gooey vomit in the early stages of infection or watching their feral crawl become something much more frightening.
Colony had its world premiere at Cannes Film Festival and is now picked up by Well Go USA Entertainment for theatrical distribution here in the U.S. While Colony will no doubt remind you of films that have come before it, this is an impressive film unto itself and deserves to be seen on the biggest screen you can find.
Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic
