MovieChat Forums > Busanhaeng (2016) Discussion > [SPOILER TALK] Plot-hole and illogical d...

[SPOILER TALK] Plot-hole and illogical decisions by characters?


Overall it's a great film, an absolute thrill ride from start to finish and I can say I have seen a lot of zombie movies done a lot worst.

But I just cannot digest the illogical decisions made by some of the characters that has been bothering me.

1) The final scene with the surviving male and female classmates.

Ok the girl got bitten by her leg and she turned into a zombie almost immediately compared to other characters that actually took awhile before they went rabid. The main character remained composed even after getting bitten and could still talk for like 5 minutes and give her daughter a final goodbye... But the girl got bitten by the leg and lost control almost immediately! She didn't even talked to her guy?!

And why did the guy finally decide to just stay there and get bitten by her and die as well? He came such a long way but to just stay there and die? NO! At the beginning of the film he couldn't care less about the girl and now he just suddenly decides to die with her after going through hell to survive.

2) The final duel.. MC vs 1x Zombie

So the main character fought through dozens of zombies back in those train carriages to get to her daughter with two other dudes just fine and now he couldn't even throw that ONE annoying zombie out of the train? If that isn't bad enough, he decides to let the zombie bite at his hand..... WHAT?!

Overall, I enjoyed the film but these scenes in particular could have been done better..

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1. The explanation can be the same in real life like different kind of body resistance? Like if you one of your roommates have a flu, one of you can also have a flu the next morning while the other one maybe next week and maybe you will not be affected at all.

I think he just like/love the girl but kind of a shy type of a guy 'coz the girl is the aggressive one that's why his teammates ares teasing him but deep inside he really like and care for the girl.


2. Main reason is exhaustion. The MC is fighting, running, lifting, pushing heavy things through out the movie and he was an office guy who sits inside his office room all day. He was just tired.

"Let them Hate as long as they Fear"

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seems like if bitten on the hand = turn slower , alot slower. The husband of that pregnant lady also turn slower after being bitten on his hand.

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First of all, you expect too much from a zombie movie. These zombie movies and all, you have to treat it like the series Lost, try to make sense whatever the writer's throwing at you , not logically asking questions as if it is real life. The existence of the very zombies can have different theories according to the writer's wish because there's room for that. So, accpeting a certain level of suspense of disbelief,let me answer...

1. To me , it seemed like the boy and the girl were already related or else they were really really close. The way that their friends teased them just showed that they had a strong bond. Usually ,the friends whom we can just tell them to *beep* off are our best friends. We can talk *beep* with them and we miss them the most. The boy not minding he girl showed they were really close,contrary to what you may think. If you always maintain a level of professionalism and distance with your friend, you do not experience true friendship. Best friends are usually whom we can tease and make fun of all the time.

2. He wasn't afraid of that guy.I think his rage would've doubled when seeing that old man again. But,he has already turned. Our hero never used hand combat throughout the train fights. He was always using the bat. Not only that, the old man weirdly talked to him while turning. That would put anybody off guard. Is it the best way to end it? Probably not. But, did it make sense? Definitely yes, in the context of the movie.

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^Actually, he raises a valid point, it doesn't make sense why he put his hand there, especially since he was so careful in avoiding the zombies biting him through the whole movie.

Sure, it shocked him how that guy talked (which also didn't really make much sense when you think about it), but he was also very careful not to get bitten through the whole fight with him.

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Yeah, there were a few things that really bothered me.

1) Not a single non-Asian/foreigner of any kind takes the train from a relatively small country's largest city to its second largest? Okay, maybe just this once.

2) In a time of national catastrophe, the Koreans - a society of familial technophiles - sure weren't calling each and every relative/friend they have. We know the cellular networks and electrical grid were working flawlessly throughout the movie. Phones on that train should have been ringing incessantly with people trying to track down their loved ones. Of course, the filmmakers had to squash what would be logical events to use telecommunications much more sparingly in the form of specific plot elements.

3) I am totally not certain what the old lady's motivation was in opening the door. There seems to be some backstory we were not privy to regarding the relationship of her and the other woman. It just seemed irrational and even whimsical. And on top of it, her actions didn't even dispense with Annoying and Egregious Panicky Businessman Villain Guy. So the whole thing was even more for naught. Maybe it was a cultural thing based on honor and geriatric mercy or something.

4) Korean baseball bats are noticeably shorter than American ones.

5) I thought the main dude was a fund manager - but his underling said the plague was caused by the plant they worked for. Even if they merely invested in an industrial chemical manufacturer as part of a well-handled portfolio, they were NOT the ones irresponsible for developing and releasing deleterious bio-pathogens. Again, maybe I was missing out on some over-exuberant foreign shame thing they were obligated to feel for contributing a single won to a corporation that caused the outbreak. If they wanted to feel deep guilty for the disaster, I'll let 'em.

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I let a lot of the plot holes and implausibility slide because, you know, it's just an action flick.

But then at the VERY end, it got just too stupid for sake of dramatic effect. Here's a good military strategy: barricade soldiers at a tunnel entrance and wait for survivors, however instead of waiting to confirm whether approaching figures are survivors, shoot them dead from a distance while they still can't be identified.

That cheap shot at trying to wring out one more bit of tension is the kind of thing I resent because it insults the intelligence of the viewer.

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