Enter, "Snowpiercer", an adaptation of a French graphic novel wherein the surviving members of humanity are stuck on a vast and fantastic train driven by a perpetual motion engine traversing the frozen wasteland of earth after an attempt to slow down global warming went horribly wrong. On this train, the surviving members of humanity are separated by social class, with those individuals who were lucky enough to buy a ticket live in luxury near the front of the train while the lower classes who crammed onto the train out of desperation are left in filthy squalor in the train's tail. After years of oppression and suffering, the masses have had enough, and revolution is stirring just beneath the surface.
The Good: visually, this film is stunning. With the gray/brown soot-covered industrial hellscape of the rear contrasted from the bright, surreal and luxurious surroundings of the cars near the front. Impressively, it manages to seamlessly combine numerous influences (Korean, French, sci-fi in the Ridley Scott vein) into a creation all of its own, with larger-than-life and over the top characters (a gun-wielding kindergarten teacher, anyone?), grotesque violence and a horrifying view of humanity existing side by side with surreal beauty and a sense of hope. The film features a great cast, with under-used character actors like John Hurt, Olivia Spencer, Ed Harris and Tilda Swinton chewing up scenery while Captain America himself, Chris Evans, works on some meatier and weightier material, portraying a guilt-ridden and darker version of his typical square-jawed hero. As the film, and our heroes, make an Oz-ian journey from the back of the train to the front and uncover some awful truths, the film manages, like all good sci fi, to make some salient points on our modern society and the human condition. In our era of rising inequality and the "99%", the film shows that reality taken to its most extreme, and riffs on humanity's darker impulses.
The Bad: at times, the film felt like it was a bit TOO heavily influenced.. and it had a tendency, for me, to feel like a mish-mash of known quantities in a way that went beyond homage into reproduction. Ideas from here, visuals from here, characters from here, etc. By the end, the film manages to rise above this shortcoming to achieve an identity all its own, but it was jarring for me at times. If you're a little bit less of a movie/sci fi nerd, you're unlikely to have that problem, but it's worth mentioning. Additionally, the film treads the line successfully between otherworldly dystopia and bleak social commentary for most of its length, but it does seem a bit TOO unbelievable at points for some of its ideas to be taken as seriously as it may have liked.
Ultimately, this film is a successful entrant into the post-apocalyptic dystopian genre, with a lot to say, and some very cool and interesting ways in which to say it. It's not doing anything that you haven't seen before, but it is wrapping everything up into a bleak yet very cool and ultraviolent package that's very pretty to look at. As opposed to your typical effects-driven sci fi film this one feels gritty and grounded, and that's a good thing. My advice: watch when it's cold outside, as it will really help the atmosphere to sink in.
8.5/10
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