THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Bong Joon Ho is the kind of director that will give you different experiences each film that he makes. With Snowpiercer, it can be seen as his most exhilarating film experience to date.
PLOT
The film takes place in the titular train, designed by engineer and now caretaker Wilford (Ed Harris), saved the human race after an ice age arrived in a fictional 2014. In 2031, everyone in the train is separated by class and the poor are on the very end, the tail. In this story, Curtis Everett simply fights his way to get to the front and take over the engine room with whoever is willing to join him that include Edgar, Tanya, Andrew (Arwen Bremmer) and Grey (Luke Pasquilano). They are able to make their move after discovering that the guards in the tail have no ammunition. Curtis frees the security specialist Namgoong to help him open every door, with the exception of freeing his daughter Yona (Go Ah-sung) as well aS taking her with them. When encountering Minister Mason, the train’s second in command, Curtis is able to get to her and hold her captive during the trip, sacrificing Edgar to be stabbed by one of the guards. After their tail leader Gilliam (John Hurt) is murdered, he kills Mason out of vengeance and becomes the new leader. Tanya, Andrew and Grey are killed by other guards along the way and all that remain are Curtis, Yona and Namgoong. Namgoong attempts to use the drug ‘Kronole’ as an explosive to blow a door from the outside. He wants to do so because he believes they can survive, after seeing ice thawing from outside. Before that happens, he is shot by Wilford’s assistant and allows Curtis to enter the engine room. He finally meets Wilford himself, who reveals that he and Edgar plotted for a rebellion to happen, in order to wipe out 74% of the tail passengers. He then offers him to lead the engine but he refuses when Yona reveals that the children from the tail are working the engine as slaves. Curtis incapacitates Wilford and pulls Tanya’s son Timmy (Marcanthonie Reis) from the engine, losing his arm in the progress. He then gives Yona matches to light the fuse for the Kronole to explode. The explosion causes an avalanche that details the train. All are dead except Yona and Timmy. As they leave the wreckage, the films ends with them discovering a polar bear, implying that life still exists outside.
THOUGHTS
When seeing this film in 2014, this was my introduction to Bong Joon Ho and it could’ve not been any better because a film with a lot to carry, it delivers magnificently. Before I go any further, I gotta admit there were some flaws as I watched it. If I’m calling out anything in the opening, it would have to be that Tanya should’ve told Timmy to go back to the sleeping quarters much earlier, when there weren’t guards. Because she tells him right when the guards show up is pointless. I don’t mean to say it’s her fault he gets taken, but it technically still is. During the second fight, we see one kid carry a torch for the rebellion to see, but I also wonder when did everyone else get torches because that was pretty sudden. The last thing is when Mason mentions to Curtis that Wilford knows him well. This foreshadows the twist but doesn’t give our lead a red flag. You should be asking her so many questions after saying something as odd as that. Other than that, this is still pretty great of a movie. The action in this movie is arguably surreal because it is insane how all of it is contained in a train. It can also be dark with moments like Andrew losing his arm in a blizzard and the entire school scene. Even the visual effects hold up as well. Going back to the carried baggage, this film works because Bong is calling out society, how it criticizes progressives who throw everything they have into making sure lives they live are more important than others, and ignore problems that the underprivileged have to deal with it. And in one way to look at it, this was probably his most colorful array of characters at this point. Curtis is a man that is hard to root for since his friends die along the way yet he is the only one to make it to the front besides Yona and Namgoong, who help him open every gate along the way. In the end, Chris Evans' performance is able to make him redeemable when he confessed to cannibalism and saved Tanya's son Timmy from the engine. The indication that he almost ate a baby Edgar and was stopped because of Gilliam sparing his arm is what makes the scene all the more heartbreaking. Between this insane character development, there is solid action to keep action lovers invested. The death of Jamie Bell’s Edgar is already heartbreaking as Curtis chose to get to Mason rather than saving his life from death, yet the backstory Curtis provides makes it all the more tragic because it was as if he was bound to be killed rather than having a chance to have it good as he would likely dream of. Octavia Spencer is pretty good as Tanya, presenting her as a loving mother determined to rescue her only child. Despite getting killed during the journey, it is satisfying knowing that her son gets to live a little longer. Tilda Swinton disappears in her roles regularly and she does it so well as Minister Mason. She is a character to despise immediately off of first glance due to being so conniving towards tail passengers. Because of that, you immediately are satisfied when Curtis kills her. Song Kang Ho’s Namgoong is another character that we don’t need to like because he is used to open every door along the way, but we can’t help but respect the decision of having his daughter be part of the journey. The reveal of Gilliam and Wilford being friends and plotted to commit semi-genocide on the train is downright shocking because you start wondering how did Curtis not ever figure it out since he hung out with Gilliam for so long. The final shot of Yona and Timmy outside the crashed train and seeing a living polar bear, is satisfying because it acknowledges that like in various stories throughout pop culture, life finds a way. To sum it up, Snowpiercer is an entertaining Sci Fi/Action film from Bong Joon Ho that can arguably get better every viewing due to having a clever message within. If you love Bong or Chris Evans, see this movie now.
Comments