Snowpiercer

So this movie has been on my Netflix list for quite a long time. I'm pretty sure it was on there, and then it left Netflix, but then it came back again, and I decided tonight was finally the night I was going to check it out from beginning to end and oh boy do I understand the hype surrounding this movie.

Snowpiercer follows the story of humanity in the year 2031. Back in 2014, global warming was hitting drastic levels that the world decided to create an engineered solution that backfires horrendously. The world goes into a global freeze and the only survivors were the ones who were able to get onto a highly advanced train running on a track that traveled all around the world.

The story picks up 17 years after the end of the world and the train is still running. The train is divided into a class system and the main characters are members of the lowest class at the back of the train.

It's pretty obvious that conditions are horrible, the food is disgusting, and they are treated terribly by the armed upper class.

Chris Evans plays Curtis Everett, a passenger in the tail end of the car who is helping plan a revolution. He's seen previous revolutions and he believes he has the strategy to make it all the way to the engine where the benevolent Wilford (played by Ed Harris) is controlling the engine. Curtis is supporting the old leader of the revolution, Gillam (played by the late and great John Hurt), and their plan is to find a security specialist named Namgoong Minsoo (played by Song Kang Ho) who knows how to open the security doors on the train. Joining them are Minsoo's psychic (?) daughter (played by Go Ah-Sung), a mother who's son was taken from her (played by Octavia Spencer) and Curtis's second hand man, Edgar (played by Jamie Bell).

In their way is a slew of guards and the habitants of the front cars. The voice for this group is a strange minister by the name of Mason (played by Tilda Swinton)

And the movie is a pretty gruesome, kind of wacky and surreal journey this revolution is taking from the back of the car to the front.

All the while you figure more and more about the characters, the train, and the environment humanity finds itself in.

And this movie is very much what I expected.

Sure I was surprised on how great the action was because I'm not familiar with Bong Joon-Ho's work. I was also surprised by how much dark humor was in this movie. The movie is on track to be a real downer for the majority of it, but then there are some really funny jokes and dark comedic moments that I was really into. While Tilda Swinton is obviously a bad guy, it was interesting seeing her in such a comedic role that was also very evil.

Everyone in the cast does a really good job. While I do have a little bit of trouble separating Chris Evans from Captain America in everything he does, he still gives a really good performance and honestly, he should never not have a beard, he just wears it very well.

John Hurt was just one of the most underrated actors of all time. He's still a treasure.

I really enjoyed the performances of Go Ah-sung and Song Kang-ho. I know Song Kang-ho has appeared in previous Bong Joon-ho productions and I like that despite trying to make a movie that might appeal to a Western audience, those two actors are still able to have pretty awesome parts.

Go Ah-Sung's character was a psychic for like no reason and there's even parts where I think the movie forgot about it. I get the feeling it was a bigger deal in a previous draft but it doesn't ruin the film or anything.

If you're like me and you've heard great things about this movie but haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it.

I think one thing to note is that the movie doesn't really mess around. About 15 minutes or so in, the movie kicks off and just keeps going at a pretty great pace. Because of this though, you don't really get to know the characters well enough to really get invested when some get axed off.

This movie does not pull punches and I think it could have done with just a tad more getting to know the supporting characters. You connect with Chris Evans character for the entire movie and you like the other characters because they connect and look up to him. But I don't feel like I got to know the other people well enough beyond a few surface value traits.

There's apparently a TV show coming out as a prequel to the events of this film and while I usually don't believe that TV shows based off movies end up being very good most of the time, I could see this one being good because it has an interesting source material and there is a lot you can do with it. In fact the world is so unique that I think a TV show could expand on the things that this show didn't have the time to.

Overall, I think Snowpiercer is just an underrated film that more people need to see. It's on Netflix, don't wait like I did.

But those are my thoughts on Snowpiercer. What did you think? Are you gonna watch the TV show coming out next year? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!