Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Writers: Yeon Sang-ho, Choi Gyu-seok
Stars: Gianna Jun, Koo Kyo-hwan, Ji Chang-wook
Synopsis: Professor Se Jeong attends a biotech conference, only to witness it spiral into catastrophe when a rapidly mutating virus is unleashed. As the outbreak spreads and the infected begin to transform, authorities seal off the entire facility.
After a disastrous misstep with smaller-scale confines in The Ugly, Yeon Sang-ho returns not only to the world of big-budget (read: high-concept) blockbuster entertainment, but to the sub-genre that made him famous ten years ago with the release of Train to Busan. Having its Canadian premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival, Colony meshes every single idea you’ve heard of before in plenty of Zombie movies, including, of course, the Romerian concept of the horde, the rapid incubation period of Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, and the immunity touted in a project like The Last of Us.
The zombie, of course, is the ultimate allegory because it can represent a range of issues related to our current social issues. Many things changed between the release of Train to Busan and Colony, including the COVID-19 pandemic, which becomes one of the allegories represented here in Yeon’s reinvention of the undead. The main one, though, is how his horde functions within the Die Hard-esque setting of a bioterrorist attack that turns unsuspecting humans into flesh-eating infected. In its slow, deliberate opening half, Yeon introduces audiences to the concept of colonies and to how ants gather and share information within them, based on their understanding of the spaces they inhabit.
The virus that terrorist Seo Yeong-cheol (Koo Kyo-hwan) activates within the body of a high-profile CEO rapidly infects an entire skyscraper, with a select group of humans having to outsmart its horde to find Yeong-cheol, who holds the key to producing a vaccine that will make them immune to the virus. The antagonist injected himself with the vaccine and encourages a zombie to bite him to produce an immune response that will allow him to mind-control the colony. However, he doesn’t expect that Professor Se Jeong (Gianna Jun), who has been studying colonies throughout her research, knows who – and what – to target, to ensure that the information the zombie colony has been gathering is completely useless.
The mechanics of the colony are what make the bulk of Yeon’s latest foray into the world of the undead (after Seoul Station and Peninsula) so thrilling to watch, although a film like Colony doesn’t have the most sophisticated plot in the world, nor the smartest characters. Your appreciation (or disdain) of the work will stem from whether you’re able to suspend your disbelief in a convenient narrative that seems to respond incredibly well to whatever change Yeon wants to throw at the characters. When Se Jeong’s group agrees not to directly talk and communicate only via text, as a blindfolded Seo’s mind-control powers activate as soon as he knows where he is, a character talks and gives away the location relatively quickly.
More than Train to Busan or any other film Yeon has directed, he asks us to throw logic out the window and enjoy the carnage on display, which could prove complicated for anyone seeking sophisticated entertainment. But there’s no pretension here: Colony isn’t sophisticated at all, and what Yeon stages throughout the course of his 123-minute runtime might (aesthetically and thematically) trump Train to Busan easily, even if the character work may not be as textured as his first go-around in the world of zombies.
This is pure, unadulterated genre entertainment from beginning to end. As soon as the action begins, it never lets up, and the way Yeon shoots said action is electrifying. How he continues to find new and exciting ways to make the zombie – the ultimate archetypal figure of horror cinema – interesting is a testament to his singular talent as a true genre artist, one of the rare filmmakers whose subsequent works are more enthralling than his most well-known picture. He’s always tried to evolve and find new images to ratchet up the tension among the characters. Colony is a far better evolution than The Ugly, which acted more as a regression than anything else.
However, working under more independent constraints has encouraged him to think about how his images should be conceived, and there are numerous angles from his perspective that are simply breathtaking on the big screen. The action is urgent and kinetic because the zombies always adapt themselves to their surroundings. The way he represents the colony gathering and sharing information is especially striking, because one thing that may work against them will probably not work in the next scene, because they’ve figured out the humans’ ruse. Such a mélange between genuine scientific (in this case, biological) subjects and popcorn thrills is what has always made Yeon’s brand of entertainment stand out among the bevy of filmmakers in South Korea, and he’s proven yet again why his brand remains one of the most successful.
Once Colony eventually leaves the skyscraper and enters over-the-top Fast & Furious territory, the movie loses momentum. That said, Gianna Jun’s lead performance as Se Jeong is so deeply moving in its humanity that it’s hard not to feel compassion for a world slowly decaying, just as our current divisive predicament is leading all of us to total cataclysm. Maybe Yeon cops out during a conclusion that leaves much to be desired, but what comes before such a non-event is so invigorating and bracingly kinetic that it undoubtedly makes up for some of its shortcomings.
I mean, the last film Yeon directed was so terrible that I even questioned why I appreciated his filmography, given how inconsistent it is. Colony proves to all of us that Yeon Sang-ho should only work within genre constraints, because he’s always able to thoughtfully reinvent himself and the allegories he represents within an immortal figure that will always be a major part of the horror landscape. It is, without a doubt, one of the highlights of this year’s Fantasia, and a pure thrill to witness on the big screen, with a reverberating sound system. I wouldn’t have watched it any other way.
