I have not read the comic source of Kingdom, so I can only judge it based on the Netflix TV series version. For a long time zombie flick fan I must say that this was a surprisingly fresh take on the zombie sub-genre set in medieval Korea. I would imagine that people living in that era would have been stronger, more savage and handy with weapons, thus they would fare better in a zombie apocalypse than their 21st-century counterparts. Alas, many of the characters especially the would-be victims act and think like modern people. They bicker and stay frozen in times of dire situation. There are a lot of posturing, waiting and being shocked by the horror that surrounds them. The series would be scarier if these characters would display their savage nature and still horribly die in the face of unstoppable zombie horde.
This leads me to my second biggest criticism of the show: the extras should have spent more time in zombie-acting school so they could move, run and behave like a zombies. Instead most of the time these Korean zombies were running like a mob of hobos. The outbreaks of zombie epidemic becomes more like a mad dash of rioters during a clothing sale at the local mall.
Other than those main complaints I thought the first season was fun, fresh and an interesting take on a zombie sub-genre. And the production value was really high and sometimes it feels like promotional videos for Korea tourism.
I'm certainly looking forward for the second season, and hoping they will improve the intensity of the show so it's closer to what I had experienced with Train to Busan. I'm also a little disappointed that the end of the first season reveals the nature of the infected horde, which made them more like the Wights from Game of Thrones.
This leads me to my second biggest criticism of the show: the extras should have spent more time in zombie-acting school so they could move, run and behave like a zombies. Instead most of the time these Korean zombies were running like a mob of hobos. The outbreaks of zombie epidemic becomes more like a mad dash of rioters during a clothing sale at the local mall.
Other than those main complaints I thought the first season was fun, fresh and an interesting take on a zombie sub-genre. And the production value was really high and sometimes it feels like promotional videos for Korea tourism.
I'm certainly looking forward for the second season, and hoping they will improve the intensity of the show so it's closer to what I had experienced with Train to Busan. I'm also a little disappointed that the end of the first season reveals the nature of the infected horde, which made them more like the Wights from Game of Thrones.