Snowpiercer – REVIEW

Snowpiercer, the Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho’s English language debut, celebrated its 10th anniversary this past summer, as well as releasing in 4K for the first time next month, so it felt right to revisit. Adapting the first volume of French graphic novel Le Transperceneige, Snowpiercer takes place in a future where an experiment to slow down global warming backfires and kills off most life on the planet. All of humanity is now kept in an ever-moving train, hoping to survive, or at least live. Things go sideways for the heads of the train when the most recent uprising attempt, led by Curtis (Chris Evans), the de-facto leader of the tail-section passengers, ends up being their most successful endeavor yet. Speaking of, Evans stands tall over nearly every performance, even the supporting roles from Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, Ed Harris, and an underrated Ewan Bremner. Only Joon-ho regular Song Kang-ho comes close to his level. Evans oozes movie-star charisma here, and if now-disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein hadn’t suppressed the release of this, I feel that this would’ve done big numbers for his career. The technical craft is striking, with so much of the movie feeling so lived in, as well as claustrophobic enough that it feels that any of these people can be killed at any moment. The simple-but-effective costume design is also wonderful. The only downside is the switch in tone at the halfway mark. The first half of the movie is bloody, energetic, and action-packed, while the second is more muted and ambiguous. I’m not a fan of the term “intellectual” in this context, but that would fit the bill. Luckily, Bong Joon-ho has shown before that he can nail these tone-switches, and Snowpiercer is no different (just go watch Parasite). Snowpiercer still holds up ten years later, being a near-perfect example of how to create not just a great sci-fi movie, but a great movie across all genres. It’s a rarely caught balance of bursts of energy and quiet moments that don’t distance the viewer, and that should be celebrated.

Ryan’s Grade: A