Snowpiercer (2014)

Film: Snowpiercer (2014)
Stars: Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, Ewen Bremner, Go Ah-sung, John Hurt, Ed Harris
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Sometimes I watch independent films and wonder precisely why a major studio passed on this film.  This was certainly the case with Snowpiercer, a film I caught on DVD recently.  While watching it and its crazy, action-packed story, I couldn't help but wonder why precisely this film wasn't amongst this past summer's blockbuster pictures (and I don't mean that in a bad way).  It had a compelling but easy-to-follow narrative, a series of stunning visuals, name brand actors (I mean, if Captain America can't open a movie...), and very specific Science Fiction elements.  Put Christopher Nolan's name on this particular movie and you'd make half a billion dollars.  The fact that it disappeared with nary a thought earlier this year in American cinemas is one of several baffling questions posed by this film.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie takes place in 2031, seventeen years after an attempt to counteract global warming reacts disastrously with the earth's atmosphere, causing the entire planet to be in an ice age that largely makes all life on earth extinct.  The only living human beings on the planet are those on a train that, every single year, goes on a track that circumnavigates the globe.

Like so many cloistered societies (both cinematically and in real life), a caste system evolves that manipulates and mistreats those in the rear of the car.  They are treated like vermin, and eventually their leader Curtis (Evans) decides it is time to revolt.  Armed with his best friend Edgar (Bell) and a woman whose son was kidnapped by the elites of the ship (Spencer), they begin to push forward through the cars, trying to find the mystical conductor of the train Wilford (Harris).

The film is weirdly wonderful, and at its best when it's world-creating.  The concept of the train is fantastic, and I loved the way that every box in the train sort of had its own personality.  It sort of pushes the envelope on what you think you need to survive (some of these people have lived in a 100-foot radius for their entire life).  It also shows what happens when you impose horrible conditions on human beings-eventually a revolt will rise, and absolute power, while not necessarily corrupt, eventually becomes rusty and complacent.

The movie has strong performances across-the-board, though no one comes close to what Tilda Swinton is doing as Minister Mason.  Swinton, who has been on rapid-fire ever since she won her Oscar for Michael Clayton seven years ago, is epicly good in this movie.  I loved the way that she clearly is weak-willed, totally reliant upon others for her power, and yet there's something almost inhuman about her.  She's totally given herself over to Wilford, whom she may never have even met (I can't recall this, but it's very likely that she hasn't), and doesn't seem to have a legitimate question about her actions.  Like so many in a dictatorship, she doesn't question whether something is right or wrong, but just accepts that it's her job and that's a cover for it in the future.

The film has some serious logistical issues, it must be said.  If you give any sort of rational scientific thought to most of the things that are happening on the train you'd realize that, for example, the train has to go over oceans that were filled with water when the train was created or that the train would have to be going obscenely slow to only circle the planet once a year or, and this is the kicker about the ending, human beings will have to have more than two people to continue the species into the future (everyone dies in the end except for a young boy and a teenage girl, and they are forced out into the cold where they see a polar bear, which is supposed to signify life returning outside of the train though I don't know how long that life will survive with a hungry polar bear nearby).

The film also could have been longer, honestly (I know this was a bone of contention with Harvey Weinstein, but any edits were probably unnecessary as world-building takes time), and I think that may have fleshed out a bit more of the actual logistics of the train.  The acting is uniformly good, as I already mentioned, and I kind of liked the lack of proper character development outside of Curtis and Wilford, as it was easier to find your audience proxies in the railway car.  It also makes you value people as human beings-this is the end of the human race on that train, and frequently we see the bizarre spilling of very valuable life on the train and wonder how much longer this situation can sustain itself.  It's a movie that lends itself to multiple viewings, looking for clues to what has just happened you're so overwhelmed by the details (an Art Direction nomination would be most wise), and that's just what I'm looking for in a summer blockbuster.

While sadly the Weinsteins foolishly put it in limited release rather than creating what could have been a monster hit, you can and should still catch it on Netflix.  For those of you who have seen it, do you agree that this is a giant hit that got away?  What did you think of the craziness that Tilda Swinton brought to her role?  And was the polar bear a sign of hope or a sign that humanity was about to become breakfast?  Share in the comments!