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)

Those who approach Snowpiercer as a dissolute B-movie might eventually have a good time with it. Anyone looking for a seriously conceived dystopia will be burned badly. My only star is more related to the fact that the film betrayed one of the most important principles I demand from the world of cinema. I have already written in my profile that from the fictional film world, no matter how fantastic it may be, I require solid logical foundations and its protagonists must move meaningfully within it. The director and screenwriter in-one did not bother to build any logical foundations at all. Everything is subordinated to the momentary effect and the next action scene. The film is a pulp crap, but it has remarkably decent casting, and Joon-ho Bong is not to be discarded as a craftsman. Occasionally, a spark of interest flashed for me in scenes that were obviously inspired by Terry Gilliam's darkly grotesque world and his famous films Brazil and 12 Monkeys (typical of this is the speech of the minister in front of the crowd of wretches from the lowest class). But those were just timid flashes that had no continuity, so in the end, my overall impression is only 25%. (04/07/2016)

At first I felt like I was back in Train to Busan (if you like movies on a train, I recommend watching it), and got a little lost in the darkness, but once the director's favorite Kang-ho Song joined in, I started to enjoy the erratic ride. In the second part of the film, the director's favorite theme, the clash between two completely different social classes, comes into play. Bong Joon-ho revels in this and knows how to give it the right contrast. Anyone who has ever walked on a plane from Economy Class to First Class actually has a bit of a trailer for this film. It's just a little more extreme here. 3.5 stars. (04/18/2020)

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)

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)