NYAFF XXV Review: In COLONY, Arduous And Effortless Filler In An Otherwise Amiable Bio-Terror Zombie Thriller
Colony enjoyed its North American Premiere at the 25th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival. The movie releases theatrically August 28 from Well Go USA.
Marking the tenth anniversary of his 2016 zombie crowdpleaser, Train To Busan, the effort fell inherently on director Yeon Sang-ho to make a movie that would ultimately top his predecessor. Indeed, the amount of ingenuity applied in the concept for his latest thrillride, Colony, is entirely visible when it’s at its most potent in certain moments. As far as setbacks go, you might not agree with this analysis if you’re as desensitized as an infected rampaging zombie mutuant with an appetite for flesh, in which case, any number of horror movie shortfalls might be innocuous to you, or even just fine.
I can say as much to that end, mainly given that Colony, much like any entertaining movie, bolsters with a solid cast, strong leading actors who can carry a plot, and grand set pieces that set the stage for swells of spectacle befitting a summer moviegoing title like any in Yeon’s post-Seoul Station resumé. Colony, written by Yeon and co-scribe Choi Gyu-Seok, delivers largely on its promises here, featuring a cast led by Gianna Jun (or Jun Ji-hyun) who plays Kwon Se-jung, a biotech expert called into a dinner summit who, along with her colleague and ex-husband get swept into the calamity of a bioterroristic attack at the hands of a maniacal scientist named Seo Yeong-chul, played by Koo Kyo-hwan.
The building is soon swarmed by hordes of infected, and it’s not long before the remaining survivors dwindle down to only a handful of people, including a security guard and his paraplegic sister, a pair of teen bullies and their latest victim, and a cop responding to an initial call warning of Seo’s actions to name a few. Actress Shin Hyun-bin plays Gong Sul-hee, another expert on biochemical and one of the only few and useful hands able to help apart from an apprehensive rescue team and bureaucrats looking to isolate the vaccine at the expense of any expendable human life.
What Gong discovers in her investigation of Seo’s misgivings, contributes intensively to solving the crisis at hand. In a matter of minutes, however, evolution becomes apparent among the infected, placing communication at the center of all strategy as the survivors fight to survive long enough to retrieve an elusive patient zero as the first step to acquiring a cure. The only question that remains then is can they do so as a unit capable of working together without falling prey to their worst instincts.
I’ll leave it to the viewer to deduce that query for themselves ahead of seeing Colony, which, for the record, I do recommend. I didn’t love the film as much as I wanted to, but there’s ample fun to be had in seeing Jun lead the way for a film of this weight. Her role is admirably stubborn and tough, and the stakes are more than suitable, whereas Colony sadly falls prey to a lot of the horror movie occurrences that have become so typical and numbing that many of the characters’ choices become predictable and just as annoying in a lot of areas. I found myself yelling at the movie a little more than usual halfway in, and I’m not necessarily someone who does that sort of thing, save for an exasperated eye-roll followed by a “C’mon…” or something similar.
Complimentary to Yeon’s concept, I loved Koo’s villainous portrayal and watching how pivotal he becomes to the plot as the story progresses. I also enjoyed watching Ji Chang-wook in the role of Hyun-suk go from mild-mannered supporting protagonist to knife-wielding madman. Granted, this contributes a tad to the departure of common sense among our characters who, at this juncture, have a few simple rules set in place in order to keep themselves alive whilst insisting on breaking each and everyone of them. To add, some of the more startling and revealing character moments paint the narrative in Colony as something of a profile in human nature, albeit not the most tactfully conveyed but seeing the lousier humans in this story get their just dues is perhaps one of the few sweeteners in consolation to this mutant zombie spectacle.
It does concern me at times that I’m not really the target audience for horror movies, even though I’ve reviewed plenty of those in the last thirteen years. I don’t know. All I can do is go by how a film makes me feel in the moment, and so all I can offer up is this: Don’t bet your bottom dollar on Colony holding a candle to any of Yeon’s past work or other similar flicks. It’s a fun few hours at best and worth your time if you ardently love the genre enough to forgive the errs of this otherwise palatable zombie sci-fi horror rehashing. In any event, there’s always Train To Busan, and in 4K, at that.
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!
