Snowpiercer

A co-production pseudo-Hollywood blockbuster with a message? In places, Snowpiercer is OK (exciting, surprising), in places ridiculous like the later Shyamalan movies (some characters) or this year’s Hollywood flop Transcendence. A weird science-fiction hybrid with a stellar cast. (07/11/2014)

A famous film response to Aldiss's classic Non Stop. How does one conjure an adventurous and unpredictable universe from claustrophobic space? Divide the space into fragments, create each fragment as a closed ecosystem and connect them with Bong's poetics, which oscillate on the edge of cabaret stylization and (post) industrial dystopia. Despite the certain anachronistic nature of the metaphor of the eternal machine that devours the bodies of the proletariat, Snowpiercer is the best possible return to the ethos of classical dystopian sci-fi. A film that holds up where Elysium failed due to excess of theses. Excellent performances by Evans, Harris and of course the clown Song. For me, it is definitely a ride in first class, which is not brought down by the weaker "extruder" effects and the fact that Bong has set the bar in mutating genres so high in the past that it probably won't surpass it any time soon. [85%] (04/30/2014)

Some time ago this train just blew past me, but when the Oscar buzz was revolving around its director a few years later, I tried to find out what was going on at Barrandov at that time. And it's a surprising gem that's sometimes a thriller, sometimes an existential drama, and sometimes even a calm action RPG. I love that feeling when I have no idea what might happen the next minute, and when no explanation is too far-fetched to be true. And believe me, once a viewer explores the fan theory that Snowpiercer takes place in the same world as Willy Wonka, there is no turning back. (05/30/2021)

Mutant, from the same director, was also incredibly hyped abroad, but for me it was an unwatchable, stupid piece of crap, so I went into Snowpiercer with some healthy apprehension. The result, however, blew me away. There are some shortcomings, like the almost video-game like special effects (when we see the train from the outside, or the frozen landscape), or the ending, which I personally would cut three minutes earlier, but I’m willing to forgive them. At first I was afraid that the premise of a post-apocalyptic train riot wouldn’t be enough for a two hour film. But it is. The passage from one car to the next is a little monotonous, but it’s saved by the dirty atmosphere, the sharp action and the excellent performances (especially Tilda Swinton’s, while I felt Octavia Spencer was the weakest link of the ensemble). About half-way through, we start getting a relentless barrage of directorial ideas, plot twists, brutal and unexpected deaths (the film doesn’t go easy on its stars, in this regard Joon-ho Bong is quite uncompromising), brutality and slightly philosophical thoughts, and I was purring in satisfaction. I have a weak spot for dystopian sci-fi and this movie checked all the boxes. And, as a Czech viewer, I was happy to hear that one sentence in Czech, and the Czech names in the credits. The film was made in Barrandov Studios :) (03/23/2014)

Once I ignore a whole lot of nonsense (for example, the fact that I couldn’t technically imagine the train or what the purpose of the people at the end of the train was), it’s actually a pretty decent sci-fi that has a hint of murder-movie atmosphere until the very end. However, it’s still an interesting idea, a good execution and a surprise in the form of a single Czech sentence said by some Asian woman. (08/09/2014)