You may not know it, but a futuristic thriller that opened overseas last year to glowing reviews and hefty box office business snuck into US theatres less than a couple of weeks ago. Yes, I said snuck. Oh, and two of the actresses in it are recent Oscar winners. And the main star was a major part of the third highest grossing film of all time. Speaking of grosses, the director helmed South Korea’s biggest grossing movie…of all time. So, where are the billboards, when did the TV spots air? Most importantly, why didn’t they show the film to the press, so we can generate a little word-of-mouth buzz before opening day? Perhaps it’s because this is not a sequel or a reboot, and it’s not about a popular superhero (it is based on a graphic novel, though a fairly obscure French work). This is something original that gathers inspiration from such diverse sources as MAD MAX, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, and THE HUNGER GAMES. Very curious, but I’ll leave the film industry detective work to those determined newshounds. I’m here to tell you that it’s worth the search, so grab your train, er movie ticket and settle in for a bone-chilling, hair-raising excursion on the SNOWPIERCER.
The film’s opening minutes bombard us with video news bites from a near future. It’s planet panic time and global warming is about to destroy our “big blue marble”. The only hope is a chemical formula that will be rocket launched in order to fix that ever-expanding hole in the ozone. But this turns into, the biggest “epic fail”of all time as temps plummet, turning the planet into a uninhabitable frozen wasteland, killing almost all the populace. But one billionaire industrialist was thinking ahead. They told Wilford he was crazy to build a rail line that circled the globe along with a mile-long super-train, a constantly, moving city on rails. Well once the ice began, he gathered up the survivors and the Snowpiercer began its nonstop journey. But the travel was only cushy for the wealthy living near the engine. The “have-nots” are crammed together in the filthy end cars. Once a day armored armed guards deliver their food rations, black gelatinous protein bars (just what’s in those nasty things?). And every once in a while the guards scoop up a small child for Wilford’s mysterious purposes. That’s what happens to the precious seven year-old son of Tanya (Octavia Spencer). Anyone that puts up a fuss endures a punishment supervised by one of Wilford’s top aides, Mason (Tilda Swinton). Curtis (Chris Evans) has had enough. Prodded on by messages hidden in the food bars and by the car’s former leader, the grizzled, maimed Gilliam (John Hurt), Curtis hatches a plan to confront Wilford in the engine car at the opposite end. With his pal Edgar (Jamie Bell) they’re able to get to the prison car in order to free one of the train’s designers, Minsoo (Kang-ho Song) ,who can open the doors to all the train cars. But he’ll only help if they take along his teenage daughter Yona (Ah-sung Ko) and if they’re rewarded with the train’s manufactured unstable drug Kronole (it mollifies the captives) for every door opened. There’s no turning back now. These rag-tag rebels will face all manner of danger and death from unknown forces in order to take back their very lives. But if they do survive the march to Wiford’s control center, what then?
That main star of the number three all time box office champ is, of course, Evans and his take on Curtis shares little with the shield-slinger. He’s beaten-down and unsure of himself, resisting the mantle of leader, while his scars remind him of a shameful past. Evans gives the reluctant hero a real vulnerability, fearing the next new threat, and knowing that he’s gambling his life on a hunch. He’s ably assisted by the energetic Bell as the perfect fast-talking, fast-thinking sidekick. Hurt has a “Ben Kenobi” vibe as the old master who sees Curtis as their only hope. South Korean superstar Song gives Minsoo a surly, dazed attitude that almost masks his intellect. There’s something going on upstairs besides a desire for Kronole. Speaking only in his native tongue, Song is often translated by Ko who exudes a youthful spirit and enthusiasm. Also of note are Luke Pasqualino as the fast-moving fighter Grey, Clark Middleton as Painter, the rebel’s quick sketcher who serves as the rebels’ “camera” (guess nobody packed any photo stuff before the big freeze), and Alison Pill putting a demented, deadly twist on the “Miss Craptree” teacher type (excuse the dated “Our Gang/Little Rascals” reference). I won’t reveal his role, but since he’s on the film’s poster I should make note of the always entertaining Ed Harris as a pivotal player. Spencer, the first of the two Oscar winners involved, brings great humor and warmth as the mother determined to get her son back at any cost (pity the folks that get in her way).
As for the other past Oscar winner, well Swinton’s may have golden bookends come next March. The Mason role in the original graphic novel was a man, so kudos to the film makers for truly thinking outside the box and casting her. She’s nearly unrecognizable with severe helmet hair, “Coke bottle” spectacles and a set of choppers that might have been made for Kelp, the Jerry Lewis NUTTY PROFESSOR. She first address the last car denizens with a oozing sneer, telling them to know their “place” before lording over a sadistic reminder to a resistor. Mason is straight-laced, prim, proper, and incredibly cruel. When the tables are turned, she becomes a pleading, sniveling coward ala’ John Turturro in MILLER’S CROSSING who can’t quite hide her condescending smirk. Swinton is the film’s “wild card” who will hopefully be back in the Supporting Actress” category for this year’s quirkiest, most compelling villainess. To borrow an old sports term, she’s truly in “the zone”.
This is the first English-language film for director Joon-ho Bong who, as I stated earlier, made South Korea’s all-time home-grown box office champ THE HOST in 2006, a giant monster on the loose urban thriller as entertaining as anything PACIFIC RIM and the “big G” dished out recently. With this film Bong again meshes taut action with intimate human drama with more than just a dollop of social and political commentary. Filming the screenplay adaptation he co-wrote with Kelly Masterson, he crafts a futuristic riff on THE WARRIORS with his rebel heroes facing formidable challenges on the way to the train’s brain (instead of the safety of the beach from the earlier film). Along the way we’re dazzled by the ingenious art decoration. Of particular note are the greenhouse car and the aquarium car (complete with sushi bar) leading up to the creative decadence of the plush front cars. Like Swinton, this team of crafty designers (working with the limited width of the sets) are deserving of some Oscar love next year. The only real fault in the film is the plodding final act, an explanation of motivations involving double and triple crosses that drags down the movie’s momentum. Happily we’re rewarded with a final action set piece that is an impressive wink at the Irwin Allen classic disaster flicks. SNOWPIERCER is a welcome alternative to the usual Summer onslaught of empty-headed, noisy destruction fests. It may be tough to locate, but try to hop aboard.
4 Out of 5
SNOWPIERCER is in theatres everywhere and is available through video-on-demand
