6/10
Snowpiercer is a frustrating mix of interesting ideas and tired, well-trodden ones. The concept of a train hurtling around the world on endless year-long round trips with the last survivors on earth trapped inside is a good one. The direction it takes, wherein the poor huddled masses rise up against their opulent opressors is an extremely boring one. We get the usual cliches - the have-nots are forced to sustain themselves on some gross substance, a child is abused, a limb is sacrificed, everybody's face is dirty...cinematic shorthand to make us cheer for Chris Evans and his team and boo whoever stands in his path to emancipation.
The movie is entertaining as they move through the train. And Bong Joon-ho certainly has a way with impressively cramped (but visually appealing) spaces. I didn't have many complaints with its action-movie middle. But, although I haven't read the source material, it feels like Bong was forced to cram too much into the beginning and the end, resulting in stilted character development. For too much of the movie I just didn't much care about Evans or his freedom fighters and their uprising. Maybe as a mini-series with a bit more background on the events leading up to the train takeover and the people involved I would have been moved to care a little more.
In the end I just found that I wanted to like Snowpiercer more than I did. At its best it was mildly interesting and entertaining, at its worst it was goofy, but mostly it was just kind of there.
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