Snowpiercer, ironically enough, feels like a warm up for Boon Joon-ho's later work Parasite. It hits on many of the same themes of class warfare and an inherently twisted system, but while ambitious it's less thematically concise than Parasite, and so hits less hard. Some of the exposition and material is a bit clunky. The performances are stellar- John Hurt and Kang-Ho Song are the standouts as a weary but loving father figure and a jaded addict with bigger ideals and plans than first sight leads you to believe, and they elevate their material. Others, like Octavia Spencer, are as charismatic as ever but lack the screen time to help them really shine. Tilda Swinton is gloriously hammy as Mason, making use of every second she has. And Chris Evans is solid but not spectacular, for example keeping one key monologue of the extreme things he's been through from being laugh out loud ridiculous but not selling it well enough to keep it from coming off as still a little silly. And the action scenes are fine at best, janky and unclear at worst, with too much shaky cam.
But when the theme and setting gel, the film truly shines. More than any fight scene, when the setting is incorporated into the action shines. When a big scene is stopped by the train crossing the bridge that marks an annual passage, or a long tunnel leads to the rebellion being covered in darkness and brutally beat upon, or a firefight from train cars, the film feels truly unique and compelling. The cinematography stands out, especially in its use of lighting, whether highlighting a characters emotions, or setting a surrealy unsettling and beautiful machine. And in the third act, the film really comes together, delivering a hard hitting message. The problem remains that Parasite delivered it better. Snowpiercer is an ambitious film that swings high, hits much of what it's aiming for, but falters enough times to fall short of a masterpiece. But Boon-Jo Hoon would take lessons learned from this film and others, and a watch of it will do the same for you.
Review by JCVIP 4BlockedParent2021-05-25T09:05:14Z
Snowpiercer, ironically enough, feels like a warm up for Boon Joon-ho's later work Parasite. It hits on many of the same themes of class warfare and an inherently twisted system, but while ambitious it's less thematically concise than Parasite, and so hits less hard. Some of the exposition and material is a bit clunky. The performances are stellar- John Hurt and Kang-Ho Song are the standouts as a weary but loving father figure and a jaded addict with bigger ideals and plans than first sight leads you to believe, and they elevate their material. Others, like Octavia Spencer, are as charismatic as ever but lack the screen time to help them really shine. Tilda Swinton is gloriously hammy as Mason, making use of every second she has. And Chris Evans is solid but not spectacular, for example keeping one key monologue of the extreme things he's been through from being laugh out loud ridiculous but not selling it well enough to keep it from coming off as still a little silly. And the action scenes are fine at best, janky and unclear at worst, with too much shaky cam.
But when the theme and setting gel, the film truly shines. More than any fight scene, when the setting is incorporated into the action shines. When a big scene is stopped by the train crossing the bridge that marks an annual passage, or a long tunnel leads to the rebellion being covered in darkness and brutally beat upon, or a firefight from train cars, the film feels truly unique and compelling. The cinematography stands out, especially in its use of lighting, whether highlighting a characters emotions, or setting a surrealy unsettling and beautiful machine. And in the third act, the film really comes together, delivering a hard hitting message. The problem remains that Parasite delivered it better. Snowpiercer is an ambitious film that swings high, hits much of what it's aiming for, but falters enough times to fall short of a masterpiece. But Boon-Jo Hoon would take lessons learned from this film and others, and a watch of it will do the same for you.