It’s almost out of theaters now, but you can watch it on-demand. I still think it’s best viewed in a theater if you can find one. Regardless, something tells me this film will become a cult classic, and indie theaters might play the occasional screening every now and then.
The Plot: In the near-future, the various governments of the world can no longer ignore global warming, so they spray an artificial ozone gas in the sky to stem the effects of ozone deterioration. It backfires and the entire planet freezes over almost immediately. The lone survivors? The few people who boarded a self-sustaining train called the Snowpiercer, which is designed to do a loop around the world. Inside the train, a class system has developed with the privileged elite in the front cars (which have night clubs, drug dens, shops, and even sushi), while the suffering poor are confined to the filthy, overcrowded back cars (which include eating bugs for protein and being sandwiched in-between a lot of people who smell like shit).
Our proletariat hero (Chris Evans) begins leading a rebellion, and the poor try to hack-and-slash their way to the front to take the sacred engine. And just like that, the most innovative sci-fi film I’ve seen in ages is off…
What Works: The big picture plotting is terrific, but the biggest pleasures in this film can come from the little details: Tilda Swinton’s gonzo fascist general (played as more of an androgynous bureaucrat), the black-out fight sequences when the train goes into a tunnel, and of course the stunning design of each individual car. [I really liked the meat, aquarium, and club cars.] Snowpiercer sucks you into its world completely, and there’s not a whiff of genericism coming off any design or idea in the movie.
Plus, I got a slight kick out of watching Chris Evans play the kind of role Christian Bale might usually play, there’s just something about watching Captain America lead a class revolt that works on multiple levels. [I can imagine the Marvel execs guzzling Pepto while watching it.] And once we finally get to the full truth behind the engine and conductor, the politically aware might be tempted to look at all revolutions as a pawn game by the powers that be…I know I looked at Arab Spring a little differently.
What Doesn’t: You could argue that Snowpiercer is a little bit too long, or that the deranged henchman that refuses to die and kills half the main cast really belongs in a different movie. And the film’s pitch-black tone won’t be for everyone. Still, why pick hairs?
What I Would Have Done Differently: Since I was a kid, I’ve probably watched somewhere between 100 to 300 movies every year, and at this point, I just really want to see things I’ve never seen before. Snowpiercer does that and then some. All I can say is “thank you.”
Great review.
Thank you.
-from Korea