As much as I enjoy sci-fi summer blockbusters, there’s something special about seeing a smaller, different kind of movie from that genre, even more so if it’s a piece of international cinema. This allows you to see how directors from other countries approach a certain type of film.
When watching the indie sci-fi drama, “Snowpiercer,” I was able to get a taste of how South Korean director Bong Joon-ho works behind the camera in his English-language debut. With an ability to meld stunning visuals with an inventive and stimulating post-apocalyptic story, Joon-ho gives us a gift of a movie that’s one of the finest contributions of the decade to the sci-fi genre.
In 2014, an experiment to help lessen the effects global warming throws the world into an ice age that kills nearly all life on Earth. As a result, the last of humanity is rounded up and placed on a train to live. This train is powered by a perpetual-motion engine, and travels a railway that spans across the globe. A class system is put into place, with the more affluent individuals being placed in the front cars, while the downtrodden are relegated to the cars towards the back.
Seventeen years later, Curtis Everett (Chris Evans), one of the back passengers, puts his plans into effect for a revolt, where he intends to lead a group of rebels to the front of the train to gain control of the engine and confront the train’s designer, Wilford (Ed Harris). As Curtis and his group get closer to the engine room, the obstacles become more dangerous from car to car, and it becomes unlikely that many of the rebels will make it to their destination alive.
Seeing as Chris Evans is widely known for his role as Captain America, it was fun to see him break out of that mold and partake in a sci-fi story as artistic as this. Although most of his performance just calls for him to be gruff and angry, it’s justified for the film because of what is character has been through after having spent half of his life in the back of the train. After seeing this hardened side of him for a majority of the film, we’re given a scene in the last half hour where Evans’ character reveals a very dark segment of his past on the train, and you can tell that this piece of his life shatters him as he reveals it.
There are also some distinctive supporting performances throughout the film. Tilda Swinton practically melts into her role as the stern and occasionally quirky Minister Mason, and her introductory scene is one of the film’s finest. Alison Pill makes the most of her short screen time as a teacher in the school car who spouts her train-history lessons to her students in a manner similar to a crazed cult leader to a group of devoted followers. There is also John Hurt as the sage-like Gillian, Octavia Spencer as Tanya, a brave and kind-hearted mother who joins the rebel group, and Ed Harris as the disarming and friendly Wilford.
Hong Kyung-pyo’s cinematography is something to be commended here. The film has many impressive shots, but there are some that truly stand out, few of which occur in a brutally choreographed fight scene with Curtis and his troops going up against the train’s security forces. One is a slow-motion long-take tracking shot where Curtis moves through the car, hitting away at different targets, and the way this is staged calls to mind the famous hallway fight of Park Chan-wook’s “Oldboy” (Chan-wook served as one of the film’s producers).
There are also some shots during the fight where, once the train is passing through a tunnel, the armed guards put on night-vision goggles to kill some rebels in the dark. Of course, you worry for the protagonists in this scene, but that doesn’t make the POV shots any less praiseworthy.
Although the train serves as the film’s sole location, the cars are very different from one another, with all of them representing parts of a world that doesn’t exist anymore. There’s everything from a greenhouse to a seafood bar to a classroom to a sauna to a dance club, but the one that is most memorable is the beautifully rendered aquarium car.
The screenplay by Bong Joon-ho and Kelly Masterson, which is based on the French graphic novel, “Le Transperceneige,” by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette, scorches with its interesting characters, strange setting and the questions the story asks you. I can’t go into much detail about what those questions are for fear of spoilers, but I can say that the big revelation at the end turns into an ethical conundrum that will have you ponder what you would do in that given situation. Although the story does have a couple of plot holes concerning the logistics behind living in a perpetual-motion train, you're able to let your suspension of disbelief take over because of how inventive the movie is.
This is the first film of director Joon-ho’s that I’ve experienced, and I was able to see that he possesses an adept hand at creating stylish action scenes that are as gripping as anything you would catch in mainstream sci-fi. He effortlessly sweeps you into this futuristic world that engages you in the characters’ journey, and establishes a mood of untiring tension as the narrative brings you closer to the engine room.
Much like last month’s “Edge of Tomorrow,” “Snowpiercer” is a non-sequel film that deserves to be given a chance because of how divergent it is from popular franchises. I suggest you take two hours of your time to ride these rails.
Final grade: A-
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