Snowpiercer is a 2013 South Korean-American science fiction action film based on the French
graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette.
The film is directed by Bong Joon-ho, and written by Bong and Kelly Masterson.
The film marks Bong's English-language debut; approximately 80% of the film was shot in
English.
The film stars Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Go Ah-sung, Jamie Bell, Ewen Bremner, John
Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, and Ed Harris.
Plot In 2014, an experiment to counteract global
warming causes an ice age that kills nearly all life on Earth.
The only survivors are the inhabitants of the Snowpiercer, a massive train, powered
by a perpetual-motion engine, that travels on a globe-spanning track.
A class system is installed, with the elites inhabiting the front of the train and poor
inhabiting the tail.
In 2031, the tail inhabitants prepare for the latest in a series of rebellions.
Guards arrive periodically to deliver protein blocks for food, and take some of the children.
During the guards’ next visit, Curtis leads the tail inhabitants in revolt, forcing their
way through several train cars to the prison section.
There, they release prisoner Namgoong Minsu, the man who built the doors dividing each
car, and his daughter Yona.
They offer him Kronol, a drug he is addicted to, as payment for unlocking the remaining
doors.
One of the cars is filled with armed men.
Under the orders of Minister Mason, the men battle Curtis' forces; Curtis' sides prevails,
and he captures Mason, but he is forced to sacrifice his second-in-command, Edgar, to
do so.
Mason agrees to lead the group through the high-class cars in exchange for her life.
In the school car, the teacher and a henchman draw machine guns, slaughtering many of Curtis'
followers, and executing his mentor Gilliam; Curtis kills Mason for revenge.
Curtis, his few remaining followers, and Namgoong and Yona continue through the train, discovering
the extravagance in which the elites have been living while the poor wallowed in squalor.
One of Mason's henchmen, Franco the Elder, kills the rest of Curtis' followers before
the henchman is himself seemingly killed.
Curtis resolves to complete his mission, accompanied by Namgoong and Yona.
The trio moves through the remaining cars where the elite indulge in food, partying
and Kronol; Namgoong steals much of this Kronol from the inebriated revellers.
As they arrive at the Engine door, Namgoong suggests they use the collected Kronol, made
from explosive chemical waste, to blow open the side of the train, and escape into the
outside; Namgoong explains that every year, the train has passed a crashed plane buried
in snow, which has become less buried with each passing year, suggesting that Earth is
warming, and that survival outside is now possible.
Curtis explains why he must confront Wilford, creator of the train and its hierarchy.
When the tail dwellers first boarded the train, they were deprived of food, water, or supplies,
in crowded conditions, forcing them to turn to cannibalism.
Before the introduction of the protein blocks, Curtis had kidnapped an infant Edgar to eat
him, and killed his mother, before Gilliam cut his own arm off and offered it in Edgar's
place.
Namgoong resolves to use the explosive, but the engine door opens and Namgoong is shot
and wounded by Wilford's assistant Claude, who forces Curtis inside.
Wilford explains that the revolution was orchestrated between himself and Gilliam as a means of
population control, necessary to maintaining balance aboard the train for supplies, but
Curtis was too successful and Wilford's own losses too great, so he executed Gilliam as
punishment.
The aging Wilford says that he wants Curtis to replace him as the train's overseer, while
in the tail, Wilford's henchmen execute all but 26% of inhabitants.
Meanwhile, Yona and the recovered Namgoong fight off the irate partiers and Mason's returned
henchman.
Yona knocks Claude unconscious, gets inside the engine room and pulls up the floor to
reveal that Wilford is using the tail children as slave labor, to replace the train's failing
components.
Outraged, Curtis sacrifices his arm to block the train gears, freeing one of the children,
Timmy.
Yona recovers the explosive from Claude and ignites it, before retreating into the engine
with Namgoong.
The damaged engine door fails to close, and Namgoong and Curtis sacrifice themselves to
shield Yona and Timmy from the resulting explosive fire.
The explosion sound wave causes an avalanche in the surrounding mountains that strikes
and derails the train, destroying many of the cars and possibly killing everyone inside
of them.
In the aftermath, Yona and Timmy step outside into the snow.
In the distance Yona spots a polar bear, revealing that life exists outside the train.
Cast Chris Evans as Curtis Everett
Song Kang-ho as Namgoong Minsu Go Ah-sung as Yona
Jamie Bell as Edgar John Hurt as Gilliam
Tilda Swinton as Mason Octavia Spencer as Tanya
Ed Harris as Wilford Ewen Bremner as Andrew
Luke Pasqualino as Grey Alison Pill as Teacher
Vlad Ivanov as Franco the Elder Adnan Hasković as Franco the Younger
Clark Middleton as Painter Tómas Lemarquis as Egg-head
Emma Levie as Claude Stephen Park as Fuyu
Jean-Marc Rochette in a cameo Production
Development In 2005, Bong visited his regular comic book
shop in Hongdae area, Seoul during pre-production of The Host.
He found Jean-Marc Rochette's French graphic novel series Le Transperceneige and finished
reading the entire series while standing in front of the bookshelf, where he found it.
He was fascinated by ideas of people struggling on the train for survival, and every section
is classified in social stratification.
Bong showed the series to his friend, fellow director Park Chan-wook, who loved it as well.
In the following year, Park's production company Moho Films secured the screen rights to the
series for Bong.
During the pre-production in South Korea, Bong wanted a film studio with a 75–100
meters long space to fill four train cars connected together.
Therefore, Bong and his production team travelled to Europe for a studio scouting and ended
up with two studio choices: Barrandov Studios in Czech Republic and Korda Studios in Hungary.
In September 2011, A Czech producer hired by the production team began negotiations
with two film studios for availability, Barrandov Studios was chosen eventually for the film
studio and production service provider of Snowpiercer.
Filming In mid-March 2012, the film crew travelled
to Tyrol, Austria to shoot some snowy scenery on the Hintertux Glacier in one day.
Principal photography officially began on April 16, 2012 and wrapped on July 14 in Barrandov
Studios.
The post-production was carried out in South Korea.
Release International release
Snowpiercer was released on August 1, 2013, in South Korea where it went on to break box
office records.
On September 7, 2013, the film was screened as the closing film of the Deauville American
Film Festival, and was released in France on October 30.
Before the official German release on 3 April, 2014, the film was selected to screen at the
64th Berlin International Film Festival as the part of Berlin Forum.
The film's UK premiere took place at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on 22 June 2014
but an official release date has not yet been announced.
US release controversy The North American rights were acquired by
The Weinstein Company in 2012, based on the script and some completed footage, with a
plan for wide release in the United States and Canada.
However it was only released in the US on June 27, 2014 in just eight theaters in selected
cities.
This delay was caused by Harvey Weinstein, an owner of The Weinstein Company, requesting
20 minutes of footage be cut and opening and closing monologues be added.
Bong refused to cut it.
American fans anticipating the film were outraged, spawning the Free Snowpiercer petition campaign
demanding the director's cut of the film to be released in the US.
Eventually Bong succeeded in getting the film released in an uncut form, however Weinstein
retaliated by relegating the film to Radius-TWC, which meant the film only received a limited
release in art house cinemas.
On July 2, it was announced that thanks to the positive reviews and buzz the film would
get a wider US release and play in over 150 theaters.
Reception Critical response
Upon its release, the film was met with critical acclaim from critics.
On film aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 94% rating, with an average
score of 8.1/10, based on reviews from 117 critics.
The site's consensus was "Snowpiercer offers an audaciously ambitious action spectacular
for filmgoers numb to effects-driven blockbusters".
On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 based on reviews from critics,
the film has a score of 83 based on 35 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
Box office Since its South Korean opening, the film has
earned US$80.2 million.
With 9,350,141 admissions it is currently the 10th highest-grossing domestic film in
South Korea.
The film holds the domestic record for the fastest movie to reach 4 million admissions,
which it achieved in its fifth day after premiere, and another record for the highest weekend
figure for a Korean film with 2.26 million viewers.
The film took in a total of $171,187 on its US opening weekends, averaging $21,398 per
theater.
Soundtrack
In May 2012, Marco Beltrami was hired to compose the incidental music for Snowpiercer.
In January 2013, a song titled Yona Lights was released on the film's official website
in South Korea.
On 12 July 2013, during the 007 Fimucité at Tenerife International Film Music Festival
in the Canary Islands, a few pieces of the three films composed by Beltrami were selected
for the performance.
The pieces played for the Snowpiercer part were:
• This is the Beginning • Go ahead
• Train riot • Ec Yona
The film's official soundtrack was released in July 2013 in South Korea and the international
release date was 26 August 2013.
Track listing All music composed by Marco Beltrami.
References
External links Snowpiercer at the Internet Movie Database
Snowpiercer at Box Office Mojo Snowpiercer at Rotten Tomatoes