Review: Snowpiercer

South Korean writer/director Bong Joon-ho has already established himself as an impressive filmmaker in a very short amount of time with his epic monster flick The Host and his high-tension thriller Mother. For his latest, Snowpiercer, Joon-ho ventures into the sci-fi realm resulting in an experience that’s relentless, exhilarating, emotionally devastating and wholly unlike anything else set to hit theaters this summer.

Based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige, Snowpiercer transports viewers to a post-apocalyptic future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off all life on Earth after temperatures plummet to blistering depths. The only survivors of the great freeze are a few thousand survivors onboard the Snowpiercer, a perpetual-motion train designed by engineering pioneer Wilford (Ed Harris) that travels around the world on a globe-spanning track. The residents of the train have been divided into two classes- the haves and the have-nots if you will- and as expected, the have-nots eventually get fed up with their shoddy accommodations and the cruel treatment they’ve faced on a daily basis over the course of 17-plus years by those in charge. Led by a strong-willed vigilante by the name of Curtis (Chris Evans), the lower-class passengers decide to take a stand and fight their way to the front of the Snowpiercer with a rebellious and brutal plan of attack so that they can take control of the train, its engine and ultimately, their own fate.

As a commentary on the effects of class warfare on society, Snowpiercer works rather well, with Joon-ho’s titular train acting as the moving metaphor for how those with money generally view those without the means to buy themselves a better life. And while the overall message about how both classes misunderstand each other isn’t necessarily all that heavy-handed, Joon-ho does impose a few cartoony and vibrantly outlandish characters into his story to keep the energy of his otherwise bleak tale from ever getting overburdened by the enormity of what’s really at stake here (just all of humanity- no big deal).

One of those wonderfully absurd performances belongs to none other than Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton who portrays Mason, Wilford’s second-in-charge that threatens the lower-class passengers with cute slogans as a means to quell their unhappiness. Her “I’m a hat, you’re a shoe” speech as she prepares to demonstrate her own brand of twisted justice on a rabble-rouser is just one of the film’s many memorable moments that proves there is just no actress on this planet quite like Ms. Swinton.

Evans’ turn as reluctant revolutionary Curtis is truly transformative stuff, with the actor best known as Captain America giving a performance wrought with grief, anger and fear that’s an absolutely riveting exploration of the imperfections of humanity. I’ve always enjoyed his roles in various superhero films, but never really saw anything beyond the surface with Evans- his work in Snowpiercer definitely showed off a different kind of range though and made me realize just how wrong I was (his monologue in the film’s final act being a particularly chilling moment). Harris is also great as Wilford, as he really has a way of making the most of these types of omnipresent characters, and Octavia Spencer almost steals the show in Snowpiercer with her performance as an embattled mother who will stop at nothing to be reunited with her child who had been taken away from her by Wilford’s thugs.

For each of his visceral action-fueled set pieces in Snowpiercer, Joon-ho treats them like they’re different video game levels that the characters need to work through their way through (a la Resident Evil) in order to make it to the front of the train, adding another layer of exhilaration to my overall experience with the film.  With the opening of each train door, the lower-class revolutionaries were faced with different obstacles and deadly foes resulting in gritty and brutal violence that wholly represented the contents of that train car in particular. Snowpiercer’s fight scenes were also elevated by   an incredibly realistic and stunning fight choreography approach that perfectly captured an authentic sense of brutality as the two classes of train residents violently clashing against each other again and again, rather than going with a more sleek and hyper-stylized Matrix-likeapproach totally unbefitting of the characters or this world.

Joon-ho smartly relies on cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo to make best use of the limited space available within the confines of his train setting, with the talented lensman somehow finding clever ways of getting up and close and personal with all of the action. We also get a sense of the barren wasteland the rest of the planet has become with some breathtaking and haunting landscape shots that really bring out the sense of isolation that’s at play in Snowpiercer- and nothing quite says isolation like seeing entire cities left desolate and covered in snow and ice. The masterful way Kyung-pyo uses the camera is probably the biggest reason I’d encourage any fan to see Snowpiercer on the big screen. This is a film that truly makes great use of its visuals and I don’t feel like you’d get the same experience from the comfort of your own living room on this one.

With Snowpiercer, Joon-ho demonstrates just how to make a boldly inventive modern sci-fi film without giving a damn as to what Hollywood thinks a blockbuster film should be. A masterful blending of genres coupled with timeless political allegories, a hint of social satire and a star-studded cast who all give tour de force performances, Snowpiercer may not necessarily be the biggest movie hitting theaters this summer, but it will undoubtedly be the most original and ranks right up there as one of my favorite films of 2014.

Movie Score: 4.5/5