Colony

★★☆☆

Colony (2026)

Runtime: 122 minutes

MPAA: Rated R for bloody violent content and some language.

Yeon Sang-Ho's Colony has a great idea - what if zombies possessed intelligence, constantly evolving based on the data it receives? The director of Train to Busan never skimps on the production and makeup department, delivering gory and goopy zombies that chase down humans in increasingly dire ways. It also tries later on to play with themes of moral dilemma and sacrifice. But the weak screenplay constantly lets it down, with thinly written characters and questionable plotting, putting all its aspirations on hold.

It's also strange sometimes that the film indirectly becomes a Biology lecture, then a science experiment, and then more biological concepts thrown around. Colony rushes through its set-up and doesn't define the geography clearly, so it becomes confusing on character motivations and whether an office building and mall are even related to each other. It begins in Chains Bio, where the CEO Kang Woo-Chul (Kom Jeong-tae) delivers a seminar on the capabilities of mold regeneration. Han Gyu-Sung (Go Soo) invites his ex-wife, Professor Kwon Se-jeong (Jun Ji-hyun) to the conference, where she's looking for a job opportunity. Suffice to say, Woo-Chul encounters Seo Young-chul (Koo Kyo-hwan) in his office, who accuses him of research plagiarisation, and talks about his greatest creation before injecting it into Woo-Chul's body. This causes havoc in the mixed-use building, where the characters meet with security guard Choi Hyun-seok (Ji Chang-wook) and his mobility impaired sister Hyun-hee (Kim Shin-rok), alongside several school students.

Locked in the confines of the mall, Colony repeatedly spins its wheels with the survivors making one dumb decision after another. There's a scene one-third of the way in where they already have Young-chul in their hands, yet never persecute or search him for any vaccines. Later on, when Young-chul gains the ability to control his colony through what he sees or hears, they still make the mistake of openly talking, disclosing their whereabouts. It also doesn't help that there are way too many characters that the film barely considers to expand beyond simple traits like being athletic, disabled or terrified of the situation. Because Colony lacks in human stakes, there's little tension or reason to care about what happens to them, even in some cleverly staged sequences that's meant to establish suspense through silence and not knowing where the threats are.

Suspension of disbelief can be tolerated to a certain extent, but this one is just borderline ridiculous, with everyone conveniently having anything they need. Colony also weaves in a subplot involving biotechnologist Gong Seol-hee (Shin Hyun-been), who investigates Young-chul's lab and learns more about the infection, one that has little to no investment, instead serving only as a narrative engine to force revelations forward. Kyo-hwan gives a gleefully deranged performance that'll make your blood boil, and Ji-hyun, while mostly stoic, slowly becomes a more magnetic presence as the film centers on her character as it progresses. The costume design and movement of zombies are undeniably impressive (the Koreans know how to make their zombie movies), and the frustration is slightly dialed down with a climax that improves things.

About the thematic and ideological aspects. It's an interesting theme about humanity evolving to an "ideal level", having shared communication, but I'd argue that the evolution would be useless if you make the population undead without a conscience anyways. While there's some disappointment in how this form of bioterrorism reduces the picture into a conventional zombie movie, a later scene surprisingly becomes more playful about intelligent zombies and how "Imperfect communication is the source of a tragedy". Young-chul's motive makes us reconsider whether Se-jeong is completely innocent on this side of the story, and while his methodology is admittedly extreme, he makes a meaningful point about the limitations of humans. Unfortunately, just like Se-jeong, the film backs away from the other side of the debate, making it a lopsided argument that leaves more to be desired. Similarly, Seol-hee's decisions, despite her gender, position and previous failures, are an undercooked theme that serves only the resolution.

The glorious ending - involving the zombies swarming around an object like an ant mill and Se-jeong making it through the mess - somewhat softens these pitfalls, but by then, it’s too late. As the sole survivor, she becomes increasingly smart and resourceful, using her wits to escape the quarantined building, create distractions and ultimately get to Young-chul in order to stop the infected horde of people. The unexpected heroine finally brings some vigour and excitement into the picture. If only the rest of the film rose up to her level.