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Snowpiercer trailer: off the rails with Bong Joon-ho

Future humans live on a train speeding across an icy Earth, with dirt, martial arts and segregation. Like the 08.31 from Forest Hill
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This is a big year for South Korean directors in Hollywood. First, Kim Jee-woon (A Tale of Two Sisters, I Saw the Devil) released Arnold Schwarzenegger's lumbering comeback vehicle The Last Stand. Then Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Thirst) released Stoker. But you couldn't escape the sensation that America was using these auteurs as little more than hired guns; cheap and interesting newcomers brought in to see through existing screenplays.

Snowpiercer, on the other hand, looks much more promising. Not only is it directed by Bong Joon-ho (The Host, Mother), but it's written by him as well. Can Snowpiercer be the first English language film to really show off what the best South Korean directors are capable of? Let's look at the new minute-long Snowpiercer trailer to find out.

Snowpiercer trailer 1

First, I should explain the premise of Snowpiercer. Planet Earth has been ravaged by a second ice age, and the only human survivors live aboard this train. The train travels along a vast set of rails that go all around the world. One circuit takes one year. How is the train fuelled? Who built the tracks? What happens when the everything freezes up? Is it even possible to save humanity from an ice age with a train, given that most train services are cancelled whenever it gets a bit too cold? Shh, you're overthinking it.

Snowpiercer trailer 2

It's no fun onboard the train, either. Lighting is minimal. Dirty-faced passengers stagger about in the darkness, their faces a mixture of incredulity and bereft resignation. Freezing to death outside would be preferable to remaining on the train, all of which makes me think that Bong Joon-ho has been on the 08.31 from Forest Hill before.

Snowpiercer trailer 3

Also on the train is Chris Evans, who can't decide whether to be a flippant superhero like he was in that film, or a sincere superhero like he was in that other film.

Snowpiercer trailer 4

But wait. This part of the train is a virtual paradise, provided that your idea of a paradise is a train carriage with some trees in it. What's going on?

Snowpiercer trailer 5

And there's also a brightly-lit classroom onboard. Look, these kids are currently in the middle of an important Glueing Crap to Stuff And Wearing Obnoxious Hats lesson. Why do they get the privilege of learning, while so many others are fumbling around in the darkness?

Snowpiercer trailer 6

Ah, here's Tilda Swinton with an explanation. "We are rich and you are poor," she tells the passengers in her best northern accent. "The train is segregated accordingly. Basically, this is the exact plot of Neill Blomkamp's Elysium, but on a train and a bit cheaper looking. It's not ideal that we're both coming out in the same year, but at least my train carriage has a nice tree in it so shut up."

Snowpiercer trailer 7

Enraged that they've been cast in a film that's bound to be seen as the poor cousin of that fun-looking Matt Damon film, the poor passengers decide to rise up against the ruling classes. First, they kick a guard in the chest.

Snowpiercer trailer 8

Next, they find a long pipe that's almost exactly as wide as the train and prepare themselves to ram their way to the poshos.

Snowpiercer trailer 9

But they can't do it alone. To take down the aristocracy once and for all, they find Song Kang-ho, a noted security specialist. Only with his help will the passengers be able to force in a new age of equality for all.

Snowpiercer trailer 10

So Song Kang-ho gives them all axes and balaclavas. But the balaclavas don't have any eye-holes in them, and they all keep bumping into things until they get tired and fall over. Their mission is a failure. The moral of Snowpiercer is that everyone should know their place. The end.

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