Snowpiercer

[Season 1] The world of Snowpiercer is itself a truly rewarding vehicle for discussing an immeasurable number of interesting topics. We might well discuss global warming or, conversely, freezing. The issues of the perpetual motion train technology project come to mind. Analyze the train as the last ark of humanity. Or go further, towards class struggles, government and social conflicts. It's all the more galling that this Netflix adaptation bites into everything except for that class struggle, and instead has to throw in the spice of our times: Racial nuances, something of LGBT cannot be lacking, and in general because of this, not only is this train running out of steam, but so is the entire script. The quality of the episodes is incredibly uneven and fluctuates greatly; sure, create a ton of digressions? We'd love to! But wrap them up? Uhhhh... And it always comes down to the fact that when a character is introduced and the cards of their conviction are laid out, they have to screw up in some marginally logical way in order to create new kindling. The acting (except by the artfully crafty and skilled Connelly) is lackluster, and the plot is thus driven not by the characters but by the cliffhangers. These grow stronger and more intense toward the end, which was certainly enjoyable if not for the last one, whose fraudulent (if spectacular) existence perhaps predated the first episode of the series. As one-and-done entertainment, Snowpiercer serves moderately well, but I can't shake the feeling that the potential (I could go on for hours about this) was much, much higher. The second season has a great chance to absolutely kill it, but conversely there's also room to learn quite a bit. 3 stars (07/14/2020)

1st season – 80% – A film that is appealingly different rather than great, but forgotten by the public. The local motifs are not merely repeated, and many seemingly unshakable canonical facts are turned upside down, so instead of a prequel, it ends up being a completely new approach to the subject matter – and that is very good because the creators are not beholden to anything. Moreover, pressing the viewer to the screen with a detective plot is a directly brilliant move because then there is nothing to do but immerse yourself in the microcosm of the train to avoid getting lost in the realities. The various group of main characters is also so interesting (Ruth, Melanie) that, given the gradual unveiling of the train cars or their customs also brings to mind the legendary Lost. 2nd season – 80% – More confident in terms of creativity, sometimes a special episode comes along, other times it plays with time and even though it seems impossible considering the premise, a new character also appears. Sean Bean savors Wilford with every word and gesture, and it is never clear if he will maniacally burst into laughter or kill the nearest passerby. Maybe I didn't believe that the journey of the last Snowpiercer could captivate me and I probably didn't believe that it could appeal to me this much, but after the nerve-wracking finale, I am glad that there is such a series here, increasingly resembling the boom of myster works from the 2000s. (05/30/2021)