Last year we got two pretty damn good zombie movies. This and Train To Busan. I'm a big fan of the genre and these two are definetely amongst my favorites. I gave both 8/10 but I liked Train To Busan a little bit better because it was just non-stop action and suspense once it gets going. If you have seen both which one do you prefer?
Dorothy Mantooth is a saint!
I have seen both and I would say that The Girl with All the Gifts is easily the superior film. I would rate TGWATG 9/10 and Train to Busan 7/10. To me, TGWATG is a genuinely great zombie film, one with a unique take on the genre that features excellent acting, first-rate action and suspense, and a genuinely thought-provoking story. It is a terrific mix of thoughtful sci-fi and visceral horror.
I've seen Train to Busan twice and I'm debating with myself whether it's a good movie with a lot of crap or a bad movie that just happens to be so effective as a rollercoaster ride. As you've said, Train to Busan is non-stop action and suspense, and these are very effective setpieces, especially the attack at the first train stop and the climactic chase. But it's one of those films that almost falls apart the moment you stop to think about it. (I'm going to post a lot of spoilers about Train to Busan below).
It's very overacted and its social commentary is obvious and shallow. The rich businessman who practically kills everyone in his way to stay alive is the single most annoying movie character from the year 2016 and would probably make the short list of the most annoying characters of all time. He's right up there with the psychiatrist in Poltergeist III.
There is little consistency with the rate in which people turn to zombies after they are bitten (the young woman at the beginning who sneaks onto the train was bitten on the leg and takes at least several minutes to turn, a later girl bitten on the leg literally turns in a few seconds), it all just depends on how it serves the plot. Even after my second viewing, I'm still trying to figure out the logistics of the last chase scene in terms of where all those hundreds of zombies came from. I saw a number of them jumping out of the train that flipped over, but wouldn't they still be trapped inside or crushed? The windows on the side that flipped over broke, but not the windows on the side facing up.
Then there's the last action sequence. After so many large scale and exciting action scenes, the film actually chooses to cap off with a lame one-on-one fight? That was so anti-climactic.
Probably the most annoying aspect of the film is its lack of clarification as to whether a hit to the head can kill a zombie. We see several zombies get whacked in the head, but we never actually see one go down for good. Even one female zombie that the lead hits on the head several times with a baseball bat still ends up getting back up and biting another character on the hand. So apparently, these are zombies that can't be killed even with hits to the head?
It's an exciting and entertaining film. I would have rated it an 8 or 8.5 out of 10 after my first viewing but had to drop it to a 7 out of 10 after seeing it the second time. I'm actually concerned I'll just keep dropping my rating further the more I see it.
train to Busan is a complete movie; it had a start, middle and ending
This movie has a start, middle and then just cuts of coz it had nothing to say on the ending....is it just 90min? Should have been a telemovie
http://my-impressionz.cu.cc
(Spoilers for both Train to Busan and The Girl with All the Gifts)
The Girl with All the Gifts was about 1 hour 50 minutes in length and it was just as much a complete movie as Train to Busan, really more so in my opinion. There's no indication in Train to Busan whether they'll be able to stop the apocalypse. There was no real reason to believe the pregnant woman and the girl were any safer at Busan than anywhere else, considering how easily the military was overrun at that first train stop.
One more flaw in Train to Busan I meant to point out. The movie introduces a zombie deer in the beginning, indicating that the infection can spread to animals. The film seems to just ditch that intriguing idea for no good reason as it is never brought up again. I'm actually considering dropping my rating to a 6/10 as I'm typing all this out.
In The Girl with All the Gifts, we know the humanity as it currently exists is doomed now that the fungus has become airborne and that the next generation like Melanie (those infected with the fungus but with the ability to think, feel, and reason) will end up taking over the world. Not a happy ending, but certainly a very thought-provoking one.
i enjoyed both this movie and BUSAN as well! i think BUSAN is the far superior film (even though it's basically just Pitt's WWZ in Korea). GIRL WITH GIFTS, while interesting and a decent watch, feels like it should have been made about 10 years ago. as i've mentioned in different threads before here, much of what is shown (with the infected/their threat) has been done MUCH MUCH better in movies like 28 DAYS/WEEKS LATER and even the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake, etc.
but again, i enjoyed both these movies.
I too prefer (Train to Busan) 8/10 and (The Girl with all the Gifts) 7/10 isn't bad either...I rate my watchable movies at 4/10 anything else less is just Garbage!
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