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Snowpiercer Movie Review

Snowpiercer is a 2014 science fiction action film directed by Bong Joon-ho and starring Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho and Tilda Swinton. It’s a flawed, but memorable genre flick.

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“My friend, you suffer from the misplaced optimism of the doomed“

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When Earth freezes, the human remnants survive by living in segregation on a train that circumnavigates the globe. Soon, a revolution breaks out between the poor and rich classes. I am not the biggest fan of Bong Joon-ho, but Snowpiercer is definitely one of his strongest works. This is a film that mostly works despite its many seemingly disconnected parts.

Based on a graphic novel, the movie benefits from an awesome post-apocalyptic premise. Though the SF elements were terrific, the film is primarily an action movie, and as a SF fan that was of course disappointing to me. The action is very well executed, don’t get me wrong, but it was also overwhelming at times and too graphic in its violence. Some of the more brutal scenes went overboard and were totally unnecessary for this particular story.

With that being said, it is the world building in Snowpiercer that is the real highlight. The train as it was depicted here is one of the best in cinema history. It is complex, varied and elaborate in design and the film made a great use of this setting throughout its runtime. It’s a great example of having a confined setting, but making the most of it as you would never think that this film is cheap, but exactly the opposite given its highly accomplished sets, incredible effects and striking imagery.

Bong Joon-ho in this film tackled his most prominent theme, which is the class divide. The proletariat rebelling against the high class is the driving force of this movie and this theme elevated what could have been a simplistic plot to something grander. There is also a strong environmental message as well as a terrific exploration of sacrifice.

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The characters are only okay. I expected more from them, but at least the international cast of actors made the project more authentic. Song Kang-ho is a favorite from the director and he was very well used here while Tilda Swinton was remarkable as always and Chris Evans has rarely been better and/or more likable than he was in this film’s most heroic role.