With the world opening up its borders one of the benefits
has been the involvement of foreign film directors into the world market as
opposed to just their country of origin. Such is the case with Korean director
Joon-ho Bong. Some may be familiar with his giant monster hit THE HOST
(if not seek it out). Now he presents his latest film SNOWPIERCER.
The movie takes place in the future. In 2014 in an attempt
to save the world from global warming, a world wide decision was made to release
a certain element into the atmosphere to bring down the world’s temperature.
Unfortunately it worked too well and we were plunged into a new ice age. The
only survivors now live aboard a specialized train that circles the northern
hemisphere in a pattern that takes them on a year long loop.
The train has its own hierarchy. Those who live neat the
engine are at the top of the list, those in the tail the low lifes. Among the
back enders is Curtis (Chris Evans), a strong willed young man who wants more
for the people who live around him. With the help of long term survivor Gilliam
(John Hurt), Curtis has been communicating with someone from the front end of
the train. They’ve directed him to a passenger further down the line of cars
named Namgoong (Kang-ho Song) who knows how to open the doors of each
compartment down the line.
After showing how bad things are for those in the back, we
witness the revolution as it begins. Plans long made are brought to fruition
and the march forward begins. With each new car more is learned of what has
been going on up front. Battles are fought and losses mount with each car. What
lies at the end is a mystery to all. But more mysterious is the reason that
drives Curtis to continue forward.
The movie is incredibly interesting from start to finish.
While we’ve been presented with end of the world movies before they’ve almost
all been set in desert wastelands among rag wearing combatants. This time while
the low level class may wear rags, the location is much more sterile and cold,
a white snow covered world where the only sign of life is the bullet train that
moves along fast enough to plow through massive ice blocks and remain on the
rails.
The train itself as it unfolds is a fascinating thing to
behold. The set designer on this film needs recognition like no other. Each car
has a purpose, steadily increasing from basic needs to class comforts. The
revelation at the last car, the engine, who is behind it and the purpose of his
creating the train is enough to make the light hearted gasp. The same for the
final reveal for Curtis.
Evans does a fantastic job here as the leader of the rag tag
group in search of a better life. It would be easy to portray Curtis as nothing
more than an inflated chest thrusting hero. Instead Evans portrays him as a
flawed character, one who doesn’t want to lead but finds himself thrust into
that position. With that decision comes the weight of responsibility and a call
to make choices that have results. An actor without chops would falter in this
role. Evans brings it to life.
SNOWPIERCER didn’t receive a wide release when it came out,
at least not in this area. I can only imagine how great it looked on a big
screen. The quality of the film is solid from the grease covered back end rail
cars to the posh front. The entire look of the film captures your attention at
all times. At no time do you find yourself wondering how long till it ends.
Instead you find yourself at the credits asking if it’s really over. What it
made me do is long to see the next film from director Joon-ho Bong. I have
little doubt that I’ll be watching this one again. It’s worth repeat viewings.
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