Snowpiercer is Mad Max on a train. That may not be very original but it’s more accurate than what I said before I saw the movie. At first I said Snowpiercer sounds like how Eskimos fuck. An enclosed Mad Max is more accurate, though it’s not the whole story either, and I guess what I really mean is The Road Warrior on a train but only real film buffs know that’s a Mad Max movie.
In an attempt to cool off global warming, we accidentally froze the planet. The only survivors live aboard a train that circles the frozen continents. We begin in the rear with the poor people when Curtis (Chris Evans) leads a revolt against Minister Mason (Tilda Swinton) and her oppressive troops from the front of the train.
In the rear you’ll really get the sense of the dank post-apocalyptic world, but the further along they get in the train, the more surreal it gets. Imagine everyday settings that would look weird to see on a train, but it all makes sense. The world of Snowpiercer is full of colorful characters too, from Mason’s bad tooth to an army of hooded men to a guy in a nice suit (also out of place here) to people even further towards the front I won’t spoil.
There’s an odd sense of humor, akin to the Feral Kid boomeranging a bandit’s fingers off, but also akin to director Bong Joon Ho’s own ouevre. Mason has some mundane protocol with her army, we learn the secret ingredient to the train’s manufactured food, some badass antagonists succumb to silly pratfalls. There is a sense of beauty too in the perverted nature outside and the slivers of nature that make their way into the train.
For a very confined movie, the horizontal action is very energetic. Even Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer gets in on the fighting. The journey to the front of the train is a clear track, but Bong has some clever ways to keep the rear of the train vital and use the formation of the track to create suspenseful confrontations. There was some controversy about the studio wanting to trim the movie, but it moves so quickly you don’t even feel the two hours, even when the characters are at rest.
The hero has some darkness that I’m sure Harvey Weinstein wanted to cut out of the movie. It definitely gives the movie an edge over other, sanitized action heroes and fits the Joseph Campbell heroes myth better, although it’s still all told in exposition. It’s not like we see him do dark stuff, we only hear him lament about it.
There are still some hazy shots like there are in many Asian movies. I watch a lot of Asian movies and I don’t know what it is, but often scenes look like there is a white film coating the camera lens. Whatever the cause, Bong may be using the same cameras and cinematographers so it looks like his Korean movies, for better and worse.
It’s also not entirely unpredictable. I mean, the villain makes some assumptions about the hero that are pretty familiar villain hubris. There’s quite a deus ex machina and for all the death aboard the train, some characters can survive anything the plot requires them too.
I still loved Snowpiercer. The world building, the provocative concept and the thrilling adventure are everything I want in a movie. I’m just keeping it real. It made some movie mistakes so I’m going to be fair. I’d say it’s the best movie set on a train since Under Siege 2 but every snarky A-hole is going to say that, aren’t they?
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever and The Shelf Space Awards. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
