On this edition of Direct to DVD Dissection, it’s the end of the world as we know it (again), and other than confined to a small metal box surrounded by frozen death and destruction and pushing for a big revolution, they’re fine. Then again, what else do you expect with one side lead by The War Doctor and Captain America?
The Story
Climate change has made the planet uninhabitable. Those few who survived the planet’s demise live aboard a train that perpetually circles the same track. The tail section is like a slum, filled with people who are cold and hungry, forced to live by their wits, while the front section contains the chosen few, who indulge in alcohol and drugs in luxurious surroundings. The world inside the train is far from equal. In the 17th year of the train’s infinite course, a young leader from the tail section stirs up a riot that has been brewing for some time. In order to liberate the tail section and eventually the whole train, this hero and his fellow passengers charge toward the engine located at the front of the train, where its creator, the absolute authority, resides in splendor. But unexpected circumstances lie in wait for humanity’s tenacious survivors.
The Cast
CHRIS EVANS as Curtis, the “head soldier” of the revolution.
KANG-HO SONG as Namgoong Minsoo. A security expert turned drug addict who is the key to helping the resistance get to the front.
TILDA SWINTON as Minister Mason. The public face of Wilford and the Front Section society.
JOHN HURT as Gilliam. The “leader” of the Tail section, with his own history with Wilford.
The Dissection
After a collage of various different studio logos, you get the back-story of the film, although it takes most of the film to tell the entire story. As SNOWPIERCER opens up, you have the set up of the post apocalyptic story of the Tail section of the train, the poor and impoverished have tried to rise up against the upper class of the train, with no real success. However, this new attempt, with Evans’ Curtis at the helm seems like it could be the one to make a real change.
The plot of SNOWPIERCER is consistent in that it follows Curtis and company for 2 hours as it goes through this extremely long train,going through various locals and settings. Going through the different local and giving a glimpse of this “society” that developed. If anything, that is one of the movie’s strong points.
There is one big issue in the film that is kind of something that affects a lot of films of this type, and it’s the air of stupidity. See, a lot of the big players in the film do some stupid things during the course of the film. Whether it is a few character doing something stupid that gets them killed, or someone’s internal logic making no sense, and even down to the characters actions making their situations worse.
Then, at the 40 minute mark, the film kind of takes many (not all) of those issues, and actually makes use of them to build the story and reveal this third act change. It’s actually pretty well done, and even though the end result kind of falters and leads to a lot of head-scratching, it is overall a good progress of the film.
Well, someone’s getting served.
The characters work really well here, apart from a few. First off, Swinton’s Minister character feels like a copy of Johnny Depp’s Willy Wonka from CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, or the campy villainess in THE HUNGER GAMES. She only make a few appearances, though. Actually, a lot of the cast, apart from Evans and Song, are only in the film for stretches of the film, some more than others. Still, they don’t feel like a cheap gimmick when they show up, and do feel like an integral part of the story.
The look of the film is interesting and does present some nice imagery, even confined to this train location. The layout of the train, while a bit questionable in efficiency, has some nice visuals. Moreso than the visuals of the snow covered world outside, where it’s hard to even see what is suppose to be looked at, in a big confusing sea of white snow. While understandable, the movie ends up using those scenes for big reveals at certain points, leaving it ambiguous what is actually being revealed.
The Verdict
SNOWPIERCER is a film that does take a bit to take off, but it does deliver some interesting by the end. Overall, it’s a great entry in the genre, and is recommended viewing.