Snowpiercer is a 2013 South Korean-American science fiction film based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, and Jean-Marc Rochette. Making his first English-language debut film is South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho. The movie stars Chris Evans, South Korean actors Kang-ho Song and Go Ah-sung, Jamie Bell, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, and Ed Harris. This is one of the most interesting and compelling films of 2014 so far. It’s powerful and exuberant. Hands down one of the most thought provoking films you’ll see this year.
In 2014, an experiment to counteract global warming causes an ice age that kills nearly all life on Earth. The only survivors are the inhabitants of the Snowpiercer, a massive train that travels on a globe-spanning track, hurtling along at top speed so that it can shatter any ice in its way. A class system is installed, with the elites inhabiting the front of the train and the poor inhabiting the tail.
But all that’s about to change: It’s 2031 and the tail inhabitants prepare for their latest rebellion. Lead by Curtis (Chris Even), Edgar (Jamie Bell),and their father figure Gilliam (John Hurt), as well as their followers of the back of the train who have had enough of being overcrowed, barely fed, and generally treated like animals by the front of the train. On having, yet again, the front of the train taking some children from the back, Curtis leads an all out revolt, forcing their way to the prison section where they need to release Namhoong Minsu (Kang-ho Song), the man who built the doors dividing each car.
With each car being opened a new challenge waits. As the rebellion begins to gain traction, the elite, lead by the grotesque Minster Mason (Tilda Swinton) who is as lethal as she is horrible of the front begins fighting back. After a small massacre, where both sides lose many people, a deal is struck between Curtis and Mason. She then leads them throughout the train, discovering the extravagance in which the elites have been living while the poor wallowed in squalor. Only giving more rage to Curtis, he nonetheless gets closer to the engine room.
The movie really makes a statement about how the poor are treated in times of devastation or war. As the movies goes on, you get to piece together the hows and whys of the train and how it became humanity’s only hope. How when the poor were first allowed on the train, it was pure chaos where basic human principals no longer applied. Leaving the front to see the back half as nothing more than mere animals, that’s how it’s stayed until Curtis begins the rebellion.
The movie is carried skillfully by Chris Evens. He really has come into his own as a leading actor. You feel for him, you understand what he’s fighting for. You want the back half to be successful by any means necessary. But as the movie moves forward, you begin to see the darkness that the back half and the front elite all try to hide. Just like a beautiful painting over time, the cracks begin to show, leading Curtis to be faced with new encounters he never saw coming.
The remaining actors all turn in great performances. You can see that everyone was into the material of the movie. They all wanted to be here. Jamie Bell, John Hurt, and Octavia Spencer all are great characters that each has their own moment where they prove themselves to be capable parts of the rebellion. Each brings something special to the film, and each works off Evens with great success.
Evans has many scenes with Kang-ho Song and Go Ah-sung, each having a language barrier in the movie and in life. They manage to make use of the barriers in a very creative way. Each begins to understand one another with looks and body language. Which shows the talent on all parties to make the movie that much more believable.
The world the filmmakers have made has a certain look and feel that works on two levels. Showing us the despair and sadness of the back half giving us a moody, dark monotone feeling. But as the rebellion moves up the train, the train begins to warm up in tone and color, showing off the rich and elites wealth. The costumes, sets and all production are excellent. A lot of time and care was taken to make sure this world looked and felt real for the characters that live in it.
The effects are also quite good, of course some are better than others, but that’s just how movies are. We don’t get see a lot of the outside world, keeping our focus on the amazing sets in the train. But when we do get glimpses of the train or the outside frozen wasteland, it is given a very realistic look and finish, which really brings this movie together.
Over all this is a good science fiction movie where after watching you have to stop and take a moment and think about what you just watched. It will bring up questions about your humanity and what it means to be human. Mixed with some very good social questions, fun effects, and great battles in small spaces, this is a really good flick. It’s definitely one of the most thought provoking films of the year so far that you’ll wonder about longer after you’ve left the theater.