Snowpiercer takes place seventeen years after a misguided attempt to resolve global warming plunges the world into a new ice age. Almost all life on the planet is wiped out. The only survivors remaining are on a train that runs nonstop through an international rail network built by an unorthodox industrialist now worshipped as the savior of mankind. But all is not well on the train. Rich passengers live it up in the front sections, while the poor subsist on dregs in the tail end. Curtis (Chris Evans) is the reluctant leader of a resistance movement, planning to break through the gates separating the cars, and taking over the engine.
At first glance, the film might look like a very typical Hollywood production. It's a high concept VFX-heavy sci-fi spectacle that kind of sounds like another limp-wristed adaptation of some minor YA hit. But it manages to be so much more. The film bears a darker, more uncompromising outlook, making unexpected choices that go against the safety of Hollywood formula. It sets out to really earn its heady ideas, making its characters pay a real price for their revolution.
The film really distinguishes itself with its bleakness. This isn't a rousing story of a bunch of misfits overcoming the odds to defeat a much more powerful foe. It's truly a story of revolution, which entails difficult choices and plenty of sacrifice. The main character Curtis doesn't see himself as a hero, and he doesn't always make the heroic choice. Sometimes, he chooses to do what needs to be done, even if it means losing something dear. The film keeps the audience off-center, because none of it feels like a foregone conclusion. The film isn't afraid to kill off important characters, the fate of the revolution a real mystery until the very end.
The journey to the end of that mystery is a fascinating one, too. There are bursts of brutal violence that really establish the consequences of the tail end's rebellion. The film doesn't let them get away with black-and-white morality. The cramped setting proves to be no obstacle for director Bong Joon-Ho, who crafts thrilling sequences within the limits of those corridors. And he builds entire worlds out of every train car, visually establishing a grand economy of means as the characters travel through every car.
Each car is so extraordinary that it almost seems a shame to leave any one. It always feels like there's more to explore, and the need to move forward sometimes causes an unwelcome jump. Still, the film holds together well enough. It finds real strength in its actors. Chris Evans is as solid a screen hero as you could ask for, the actor wearing the burden of his character in the tension in his shoulders. Song Kang-Ho delivers his signature mix of slyness and confusion. Tilda Swinton is a riot in a crucial supporting role. John Hurt and Ed Harris round out the cast with equal doses of gravity.
Snowpiercer is the rare film that could stand to be longer. There's so much more to explore in this train, the film hinting at intriguing little details of how life functions within this strange, rattling machine. But it is almost indulgent to ask for more, given how much the film already provides. Snowpiercer is smart and uncompromising, telling a story with far grander ambitions than most Hollywood productions can carry nowadays.
My Rating:
