Was Snowpiercer THAT good?

Snowpiercer was a Korean science-fiction film released in 2014, directed by Joon Ho-Bong, and despite being mostly English and starring big American & British actors like Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, John Hurt & Octavia Spencer, it has been described as the most Un-American mainstream sci-fi film released last year, and I completely agree with that, the plot, style and fight scenes are things you would never see in a Hollywood motion picture. The film is set during the apocalypse where the world became frozen over night, making it too cold to live anywhere, that is except for this train called Snowpiercer, which is constantly moving and is the only place safe from the freezing temperatures outside. However this is also a divide between citizens of the train, the richer you are, the closer you are to the front and the closer to the back are the more poverty ridden areas. Eventually, those that live in the slums decide to rebel and fight their way to the front of the train.

What made this film so popular was word of mouth, everyone who saw it absolutely loved it, so other people were inspired to check it out, and they loved it. Of course I was eager to watch it as well, knowing very little about it and...I was kinda disappointed. I mean don't get me wrong, I still very much enjoyed the movie and there were a lot of great things about it, but I also found major issues with the story.

Let's start off with the good stuff, like i said, this is a very Un-American style of filmmaking and I really enjoyed that, it made the film feel much more unique and stylish, but it's not too experimental where it alienates the casual viewer, both regular audiences and cinephiles could sit down and enjoy this movie. The action scenes are also very well done, they're creative, entertaining and while i feel they peaked a little too early, were always welcomed. The performances were great, especially from Chris Evans who is giving the best performance of his career, and while his character may come across as the stereotypical leader at first (He started off pretty much as a grumpy Captain America) by the end when you learn about his backstory, he suddenly became one of the most unique protagonists of 2014. Also the train itself looks great, the best environments are the ones that feel like a character in it's own, and Snowpiercer definitely has that going for it. In fact I would say all the characters are memorable and likeable, even some of the villains (Particularly Tilda Swinton's character)

But there are some issues that I had with the plot, in fact, they were really big issues. Let's start with the biggest one i have and that would be...you're on a fucking train. The film makes a point that the creator of the Snowpiercer was seen as a joke for building this thing, then the apocalypse happened and everyone wanted onboard, but that doesn't change the fact that...why the fuck you build a train!? Why not an underground bunker or if it was something that had to be moving then maybe like a giant tank, not something that can be knocked off because of some ice on the tracks (Which nearly happens several times by the way). Yes the train has a lot of symbolism, particularly from a cinematography point of view, but logically speaking...it's a fucking train!

And also, was a commentary on the class system the most fitting with all of this? It's the apocalypse, would class really be that big of a deal? This isn't too big of a problem I have, i just can't help but think that the apocalypse and class system don't really go hand in hand. Especially when the commentary they're giving is "rich people bad, poor people good" isn't exactly a unique perspective, hell Hunger Games did it better.

And my final complaint is a major spoiler for the ending, so ye be warned. The film ends with two characters realising that the snow is beginning to melt, thus meaning the Earth is getting warmer and soon people can live outside again. In the end, they crash the train and one of the characters, and a small child emerge from the wreckage, hopeful for the future...except they have no food, no shelter and even though the Earth is getting warmer, it's still cold enough to kill you pretty soon...guess the movie forgot to mention any of that.

In the end, I still enjoyed Snowpiercer, but not nearly as much as everyone else, still, I definitely say it's worth a watch and I recommend giving it a try.

-Danny