Overview of Peninsula

‘Peninsula’ is a sci-fi adventure movie directed by Yeon Sang-ho and is claimed as the second part of ‘Train to Busan‘. The film featuring Gang Dong-won, Kwon Hae-hyo and Lee Jung-hyun was released on 15 July 2020. The hero, Jung-seok and his brother-in-law return to the Peninsula from where they once escaped, to revive a truck loaded with money. The place Peninsula has become a dead land due to the zombie attack that happened four years ago. Their coming back to the region disturbs the zombies causing another outrage, which ultimately takes them to the humans who still reside in the place.

Profile

• Name: Peninsula
• Genre: Horror, Action, Adventure
• Starring: Gang Dong-won, Kwon Hae-hyo, Lee Jung-hyun
• Directed by: Yeon Sang-ho
• Produced by: Lee Dong-ha
• Production Companies: RedPeter Films, Contents Panda
• Written by: Yeon Sang-ho, Ryu Yong-jae
• Cinematography: Lee Hyung-deok
• Running time: 116 minutes
• Distributed by: Next Entertainment World
• Edited by: Yang Jin-mo
• Release date: 15 July 2020
• Music by: Mowg
• Languages: Korean, Cantonese, English, Polish
• Country: South Korea

Cast

• Gang Dong-won as Jung-seok
• Lee Jung-hyun as Min-jung
• Kim Do-yoon as Chul-min
• Kwon Hae-hyo as Elder Kim
• Kim Min-jae as Sergeant Hwang
• Koo Kyo-hwan as Captain Seo
• Lee Re as Joon
• Lee Ye-won as Yu-jin
• Jang So-yeon as Jung-seok’s elder sister
• Moon Woo-jin as Dong-hwan
• Kim Kyu-baek as Private Kim
• Bella Rahim as Major Jane

Synopsis

Peninsula a place in South Korea falls under the threat of Zombie attack. Jung-seok, a ROKMC officer, prepares to shift with his family, consisting of his sister, nephew, and brother-in-law, to another place. On his drive to the ship, he comes across a couple and their little daughter. Jung-seok turns a cold shoulder towards them, seeing the man bleeding. However, the ship they board contains an infected person, and he starts to contaminate the other passengers by turning them into zombies. In the unexpected zombie attack, Dong-hwan, Jung-seok’s nephew, gets infected. 

Jung-seok abandons his nephew and his sister, who refuses to leave Dong-hwan. He closes the cabin’s door, keeping himself and his brother-in-law from getting infected. Jung-seok and his brother-in-law, Chul-min, escape to Hong Kong. They join a rowdy gang, but their life in the foreign land is pathetic. Knowing that the duo is from South Korea, the rowdy gang asks Jung-seok and Chul-min to return to their homeland to bring back a truck that was stuck in South Korea four years ago.

Jung-seok and Chul-min decide to revive the truck and bring it back to Hong Kong. The rowdy gang demands to bring the truck to the ship they arrange. If they succeed in bringing the truck to the ship within three days, they will get a fair amount of money for the job. The gang arrange a lady and a young lad to accompany them on the mission.

Jung-seok’s team reaches the barren land, where no life forms are found. Using the truck’s number, they find the truck they are searching for. Chul-min goes to start the truck but finds a dead man in its driving seat. He tries to push him aside. To his surprise, the deadman is a zombie, and it tries to attack him. They press on the horn accidentally. The sound of the horn catches the attention of other zombies, and they start to march towards the truck.

The sudden zombie attack takes the lives of the lady and the young lad. Before the zombies bite, a mysterious car rescues Jung-seok. He is surprised to find two young girls in the car. The elder one is driving the car, and the younger one is diverting the attention of the zombies using her toy car. The girls take him to their shelter, where they live with their mother and grandfather.

Jung-seok identifies the girl’s mother as Min-jung, the lady who begged him for help. Pricked by guilt, he asks Min-jung for forgiveness. She asks him whether he belongs to the underground fight club, Unit 631. He tells her the reason for his coming. Jung-seok does not know whether Chul-min is alive or not. To save himself from the zombie attack, Chul-min hides inside the money-loaded truck.

Unit 631 captures the truck and captivates Chul-min. The captain of the unit learns about the money inside the truck. He conspires with his right hand to escape to Hong Kong with the help of the rowdy gang. The captain contacts the leader of the rowdy gang through the cell phone they get from the truck. While Unit 631 indulges in their entertainment, the captain and his right hand make plans to escape.

Jung-seok and Min-jung try to take the truck to the rowdy gang waiting for them on the ship. However, the captain and his men interrupt them and provoke the zombies. Zombies block the way of the truck. While defending the zombies, Jung-seok learns that Chul-min is trapped by Unit 631. Jung-seok runs into the wrestling ring of Unit 631 to save Chul-min.

Jung-seok alerts the zombies by making loud noises as a means to escape. The main leader of the unit sees Jung-seok and Chul-min escaping. The leader shoots Jung-seok, but Chul-min middles in to save Jung-seok from the gunshot. In the meantime, the captain tries to escape with the truck. He boards the truck inside the ship and asks the rowdy leader to take him with them. The rowdy leader shoots him instead. Angered by the rowdy leader’s action, the captain drives the truck back out of the ship, causing the zombies to rush into the ship.

Outside, Min-jung, with his wounded leg, and the other members are defending the zombies. Above their heads flies a United Nations’ Chinook helicopter. Min-jung asks Jung-seok to take her children safely to the helicopter. Carrying the younger girl on his back, Jung-seok and the other girl run forward to the rescue team. When Jung-seok looks back, he sees Min-jung preparing to shoot herself.

Jung-seok runs back to save her, remembering the words of Chul-min. Seeing Jung-seok coming back for her, Min-jung decides to fight against the zombies once again, and together they escape from the Peninsula with the help of the rescue team.

Theme

‘Peninsula’ is a horror entertainer telling the story of a zombie outbreak. The movie questions the morality of people at the time of disasters. The hero Jung-seok, abandons his sister to save him and his brother-in-law’s life. However, their escape to Hong Kong does not give them a better life. To end their struggle in the foreign land, they agree to help a rowdy gang by reviving their truck back to them from the Peninsula. When Jung-seok gets a second chance to escape from the same place, his guilt consciousness compels him to rescue Min-jung, who decides to sacrifice her life.

On the other hand, the movie displays the functioning of an underground fighting group. Instead of lending a hand to help one another, the group lives their selfish life without a future.

Awards

• 26th Chunsa Film Art Awards 2021
  Best Technical Award – Lee Mok-won, Yoo Chung, Park Joon-young (Production design)

Interesting Facts about Peninsula

1. The 2020 Cannes Film Festival included ‘Peninsula’ in their Official Selection list, but the event was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2. ‘Peninsula’ was premiered in the 25th Busan International Film Festival in 2020.
3. ‘Peninsula’ made its official release in India on 27 November 2020.

FAQs

1. What is the Instagram ID of Lee Jung-hyun?
   @mermaidleejh
2. Who is the director of ‘Peninsula’?
   Yeon Sang-ho is the director of ‘Peninsula’.
3. When was the movie ‘Peninsula’ released?
   15 July 2020.