REVIEW: Snowpiercer

Chris Evans seems to be everywhere and nowhere these days; everyone knows who he is, but that's mostly just from his roles as Captain America. While he's a superb Steve Rogers, his part in the Marvel Cinematic Universe hardly gives him too much room to really showcase his talent as an actor; Snowpiercer is a film that allows us to see just how good he can be outside of a big-budget blockbuster.

After a would-be cure for global warming works too well and causes a second ice age, the last remnants of an all-but-extinct humanity survive on the titular locomotive; inside is a microcosm of all walks of life, from the privileged first class in the front of the train, all the way to the downtrodden dregs in the rear. Evans stars as Curtis Everett; alongside fellow passengers Gilliam (John Hurt) and Edger (Jamie Bell), he rallies the members of the lower class to rise up in revolt and work their way to the front of the train, one car at a time. It's a really unique premise, even if it seems more than a little far-fetched at first. As cool as this world is, I was asking myself "but why a train" within the first five minutes. Rest assured, my questions were all answered in due time. This is a film in the same realm as Mad Max: Fury Road; while this portrayal of the post-apocalyptic future is certainly odd and a little over-the-top at times, everything makes sense within the movie's own sense of logic. 

For a movie with such a large and varied cast, it's really quite impressive that there's no real weak players. Everyone gives an excellent and memorable performance, which is the most important thing in a film such as this. The budget isn't exactly sky-high, so the weight is placed more on characters than on spectacle. If we didn't care about the people in this scenario, there would be nothing here but some really neat set design and some solid, inventive action sequences. The fact that I audibly said "NO" when certain characters were killed speaks volumes to the performances on display here; John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, and Chris Evans in particular being the standouts. Hurt plays Gilliam, an elderly crippled man and Curtis' mentor. While he can't do much, he emanates wisdom and grace; it's something of an old trope, the old wise man of the downtrodden people, but damned if John Hurt doesn't play the part exceedingly well. On the antagonistic side, we have Tilda Swinton as Minister Mason, a fanatical puppet underling for Wilford (Ed Harris), the mysterious mastermind behind life on the train. This character is just so memorable and enjoyable to watch; she's a high-ranking officer of the upper class who takes immense pleasure in enforcing order amongst those below her. Swinton acts as the quintessential scheming politician, ready to say anything if it'll save her own skin. You're never able to fully get a bead on who she really is or what she's about to do, making her both despicable, mysterious, and hilarious all at the same time.

Of course, in the leading role, we have Chris Evans as Curtis. At first glance, this may seem like the same kind of role one would expect out of Evans these days; he's the handsome leader, fighting for freedom and justice and all that good stuff. But beneath that, we have a truly interesting character who doesn't exactly want to be the hero. Not because he's selfish, but because he believes himself unworthy compared to those around him. He's arguably the most capable person in the back of the train, born to be a leader, but the ghosts of his past keep him from believing in himself. I wasn't completely sold on this character from the get-go, but by the end of the movie I was wholly convinced that Evans was definitely one of the strongest aspects of the entire film. 

Outside of the performances, one must truly praise the visual design in this movie. The CGI for exterior shots of the train is quite frankly garbage, but the interior of each car is so visually diverse and interesting; from the dingy, grimy back of the train, to the spotless, excessive front, every car has a distinct feeling to it, setting the tone for each scene. The action is shot really well here too, hitting hard and being exciting without relying on wide-open spaces or excessive amounts of CGI blood. All the action takes place within train cars, so the actors only have so much space to work with; thanks in-part to the martial arts talents of actors like Luke Pasqualino (Grey, Gilliam's bodyguard), each action sequence has something unique that prevents it from just coming down to a couple of burly guys having an awkward punch-up in a metal box. The only problem I have with this movie is a few dashes of inconsistency. A few characters are killed off without ever getting the chance to complete their arc; while this keeps tension high, it also feels a little cheap at times (especially when that character's arc has been built up as a plot point). There's also the matter of Yona (Ah-sung Ko), the daughter of a convict who designed the security systems on the Snowpiercer (Kang-ho Song). It's implied at one point that she has precognition and is able to tell when there are people on the other side of the doors separating each train compartment. This is brought up and used exactly once, and then never mentioned again. Considering how this is a somewhat grounded film (again, within its own logic), the idea of people seeing the future seems like kind of a huge plot point to just mention once and then never revisit. Perhaps more scenes of this were cut from the final draft (considering that the whole thing has a really solid pace, despite being just over two hours in length), but what remains of this plot point just feels unnecessary.

Snowpiercer is great because, even without the great performances, it could have gotten by with a pass just by being cool. I'm not sure if I made it clear, but this is a really cool movie. The action is cool, the premise is cool, the world it creates is really, really cool. Everything about this is just awesome to look at and explore. It's just icing on the cake that the cast is packed full of great and talented actors giving memorable performances while all this coolness is happening around them. If you're looking for a really slick action feature with some gorgeous visual design and a surprisingly great sense of humor, definitely give Snowpiercer a watch.