Snowpiercer

Original IP Post-Apocalyptia as well as the 21st century can possibly dish it out.

Final rating:★★★★ - Very strong appeal. A personal favourite.

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Snowpiercer is getting a TV adaptation soon, so now it's the best moment to rewatch one of the best movies in 2014. At the time, Bong Joon-ho wasn't exactly a famous director that everyone knew about. Therefore, the cast led by Captain America himself, Chris Evans, and the intriguing premise did all the work in creating the cult following it got. Ironically, I haven't watched this film since its release, so this is only my second time boarding its train. I'm going to start with the best thing that this movie possesses: its screenplay.

This is one of the most shocking films I've seen when it comes to delivering jaw-dropping twists, one after the other, exclusively through dialogue. As it would become a staple in Bong Joon-ho's filmography, his writing is so incredibly complex and multi-layered that it's truly a miracle that his movies end up making any sense. Snowpiercer (which is co-written by Kelly Masterson) has literally dozens of logical questions that any other film would not only fail to explain, they wouldn't even try to. With any other screenwriters, this movie would feel too far-fetched and hard to believe. But it's far from that.

Each character receives extraordinarily elaborate development, filled with mind-blowing revelations and eye-opening twists. Every line of dialogue, every picture, every camera movement, every shot, every scene matters. Everything the viewer sees or hears either means something or foreshadows an eventual payoff. Snowpiercer is the definition of "every shot counts". Don't you dare go to the bathroom without stopping the film first. You'll undoubtedly miss something significant. Absolutely brilliant screenplay and astonishing, well-written characters.

It's indisputably a narrative-driven story. Snowpiercer is a lesson in exposition. Even though there's plenty of action (I'll get there), it's a movie that relies on the viewe...

I was really quite disappointed in this. It’s set aboard a non-stop train that travels the world once a year and that is compartmentalised into sections that equate to classes on an ocean liner. It’s the arrival of “Gilliam” (John Hurt) that inspires “Curtis” (Chris Evans) to try to lead the abused occupants of the prison carriage to greater things further up the train. Now the doors are hermetically sealed and only opened for the rather menacing minister “Mason” (Tilda Swinton) to address the unworthy and so it’s this opportunity that starts their rebellion. The first twenty minutes are actually quite decent as they try to break out of their squalor, but once they start to make progress this just assumes all the traits of a video game. As they make advances their weaponry improves, their skills improve, their oppressors employ tactics that wouldn’t challenge an eight year old and the thing builds with obvious predictability to a conclusion that offers us plenty of action en-route but very little jeopardy. Trains usually work well as the conduit for an adventure film, but this just uses each carriage as another level with more tangible rewards accumulated as they move along. Swinton does deliver quite well here, she does her best Linda Hunt impression - with some dental augmentation, but Evans, Jamie Bell and Octavia Spencer really fail to enliven this sadly procedural and repetitively violent enterprise. The snowy post-apocalyptic planet looks good, though. Maybe there is hope for the planet, after all?

'Snowpiercer' kept my interest all the way through, though it didn't ever quite get to the stage of me absolutely loving it. I don't really hold any negatives, it's more so that I didn't overly like any particularly element - it's simply a very good movie, without being spectacular imo.

Chris Evans is a sturdy fit for the main part, I enjoyed him. Song Kang-ho is the one who impresses most of the rest. I had no idea until this very moment that Namgoong was played by he of 'Parasite' fame, not sure how I didn't clock that; hair is a powerful thing!

The story is a bit of a strange one, kinda had to keep reminding myself in a few scenes that it all supposedly takes place on a moving train. In that sense, I'm not convinced I ever truly bought into the nature of the plot. Again, though, still a fun watch and one I'd obviously recommend.