Snowpiercer

Name: Snowpiercer
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Drama, Thriller
Released: June 27, 2014
Duration: 126 min
Rating: 84
Cast: Chris Evans, Ed Harris, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton

2014

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 38 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 875 Ratings

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7.2

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7.2	Your Score
7.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 875 Ratings

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Snowpiercer

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Movie Details & Credits

Weinstein Company, The | Release Date: June 27, 2014 | R

Starring: Chris Evans, Ed Harris, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton

Summary: In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.

Director: Joon-ho Bong

Genre(s): Action, Sci-Fi, Drama, Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 126 min

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Awards & Rankings

31	#31 Best Movie of 2014
20	#20 Most Discussed Movie of 2014
21	#21 Most Shared Movie of 2014

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Andrew O'Hehir

Jun 26, 2014

Politically provocative and visually spectacular Snowpiercer - the best action film of 2014, and probably the best film, period. Read full review

100

Patrick Gamble

Jun 22, 2014

Snowpiercer evolves steadily, growing richer with every step and slowly feeding us morsels of information - enriching this ludicrous premise with enough magic and wonder to suspend our disbelief entirely. Read full review

Bill Goodykoontz

Jul 2, 2014

There are surprises and plenty of action. What's good about Snowpiercer is how they all blend together; each element informs the other. Read full review

Claudia Puig

Jun 26, 2014

A rare hybrid that perfectly blends the dazzle of a futuristic action thriller with the intellectual substance of an art film. Read full review

David Denby

Jul 5, 2014

If you don't mind the gore, you can enjoy Snowpiercer as a brutal and imaginative piece of science-fiction filmmaking. [7 & 14 July 2014, p.94]

Clarence Tsui

Jun 22, 2014

Snowpiercer is an ambitious piece with a universally comprehensible theme and accessible aesthetics. Read full review

Stephanie Zacharek

Jun 24, 2014

Even as dystopian dramas go, the picture is arid and lusterless in its more serious moments and unpleasantly kitschy when it tries to soar over the top. Read full review

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User Reviews

Pazzo7

Jun 27, 2014

This is the best movie I've seen this year.The fact is that I didnt see the movie in theaters but on my PC and I loved it means a lot.This sci-fi,action movie is put together with thought.It has a soul,a purpose,a style,good characters and AWESOME action.One of the best of this year.I'd likeThis is the best movie I've seen this year.The fact is that I didnt see the movie in theaters but on my PC and I loved it means a lot.This sci-fi,action movie is put together with thought.It has a soul,a purpose,a style,good characters and AWESOME action.One of the best of this year.I'd like to quote what Peter Travers said in his review for this movie " Snowpiercer is everything Transformers: Age of Extinction wishes it could be: a slam-bam sci-fi thriller with a brain, a heart and an artful sense of purpose".I really hope this movie is gonna slam AOE at the box office because its entertaining and doesnt give you headache and doesnt make you dumber watching it.Snowpiercer diserves to be a succes.Go see it in theaters people.… Expand

25 of 57 users found this helpful2532

richtofin819

Oct 27, 2014

Snowpiercer is one of those movies you hear described and you just think based on that it will be terrible but when i went to see snowpiercer i encountered a remarkably well developed and grounded film that really immersed me in the plot and the characters predicament. i would recommend thisSnowpiercer is one of those movies you hear described and you just think based on that it will be terrible but when i went to see snowpiercer i encountered a remarkably well developed and grounded film that really immersed me in the plot and the characters predicament. i would recommend this to anyone.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

mahzadyar

Oct 18, 2017

Could not imagine a movie to be richer in content. "Snowpiercer" is a two-hour nonstop bombardment of brilliant stories and dramatic scenes. It pictures a new line of human civilization and history, completely redesigned by the builder & maintainer of the eternal train. It describes how aCould not imagine a movie to be richer in content. "Snowpiercer" is a two-hour nonstop bombardment of brilliant stories and dramatic scenes. It pictures a new line of human civilization and history, completely redesigned by the builder & maintainer of the eternal train. It describes how a system of belief in the form of politics, religion, education combined with brute force can act upon society, which appears to be inevitable to control and maintain the balance of the whole system. The plot is so wisely written that you can see the whole system of our human society within the Snowpiercer as an action drama. Unlike similar plots trying to give such a big picture, this movie does not provide you with a brief answer but gives you a resolution toward that, by providing you with the story of rise and fall of a 17-years mini civilization within the train.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Compi24

Nov 19, 2015

Excellent world-building collides with fantastically staged action sequences in "Snowpiercer," Bong Joon-Ho's thrillingly twisted sociopolitical sci-fi triumph.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Tyray23CenaSuck

Jul 11, 2014

Its a solid movie but very overrated by the critics that made my exceptions a little to high for this movie. It delivers with good action but not much else.

5 of 11 users found this helpful56

Vercoda

Jul 7, 2014

Without doubt, one of the worst films of 2014, as well as of recent years, Snowpiercer was a massive disappointment. Collectively, I'm a fan of several of the actors and behind-the-scenes talent involved with this film, as well as its kind of dystopian setting, so although I knew littleWithout doubt, one of the worst films of 2014, as well as of recent years, Snowpiercer was a massive disappointment. Collectively, I'm a fan of several of the actors and behind-the-scenes talent involved with this film, as well as its kind of dystopian setting, so although I knew little about the film I had high hopesfor it - sadly, they were soon dashed. Where to begin?

There were just too many things wrong with it - for a train that's perpetually rocketing around the world, half the film featured zero sense of inertia or speed (even Star Trek's hams could wobble in their seats sometimes), as utterly stationary cast and equipment appeared stage-bound - apart from a few token sequences. We had a rocketing train that conveniently slowed wayyyy down at key expositional points (the Plane Below, the Frozen Exiles), as well as utterly bizarre casting decisions that were never explained (Jamie Bell's bizarre and somewhat patronising "Shoite!" 'Oirish' accent - why?!), while Hurt and Evans regularly over-emoted as though they going for an Academy award. (Just wait til the seemingly endless speech about what Evans used to eat...)

Then, once the story started rolling along into the front, better-off section of the train, it absolutely rocketed into utter silliness. Yes, we get that they're all decadent, parasitic snobs living it up at the front - but did we need slo-mo Eurodisco shots to underline this? (Send in the gimps!) Derivative and dull to sit through, ticking one clichéd box after another, this was the point where I started considering what I could be doing instead of staying on board to the ending.

The film's one - and only - saving grace is Tilda Swinton, who stole every scene with her perfidious Mason character. Half Gollum, half Northern English trade unionist, and half vintage Deirdre Barlow (Irish/British TV audiences will get that reference), her cowardly, sniping, mocking and treacherous ways were an absolute hoot to watch, with her hateful character proving unexpectedly entertaining in each and every scene she was in, while John Hurt was also a reliably engaging presence on screen.

Unfortunately, one brilliant character and an okay-ish set-up do not an entertaining film make, and the initially interesting dystopian set-up soon derails into a cheap - and dare one say, almost grubby-feeling - Eurofilmesque tale, populated with flashes of jarring, stylised uber-violence, an inconsistent narrative, lazy editing, generally cheap-looking CGI/effects and a crashing bore of an ending.

As such, it's 3 points for Tildy's turn, but a big, fat Zero for anything else...… Expand

27 of 36 users found this helpful279

notor12

May 10, 2020

I just don't understand why this movie is so beloved by critics.

Dystopian class conflict has been done by other movies way way better than this. The dialogue was clunky. The character development was almost non-existent. The acting was meh. The action was good I guess. Does humanityI just don't understand why this movie is so beloved by critics.

Dystopian class conflict has been done by other movies way way better than this. The dialogue was clunky. The character development was almost non-existent. The acting was meh. The action was good I guess. Does humanity deserve to be saved? That is the question the film asks, but never answers, and it may have been an artistic choice not to answer. It is nice to have a movie that forthrightly addresses the ugliness of humankind, but this is really a tired theme for people who have seen a lot of movies already. The film doesn't really do justice to the good in people in asking that question, either, and seems to judge humanity from a fairly one-sided pessimistic portrayal.

The better theme here would be "How can humanity be saved?" Humanity is indeed often ugly, petty, selfish, scared, envious, and hateful. But not all of humanity is that way at all times. There are ways out of all of those traits. How did particular individuals around this world escape them? That is the engine of hope. An engine not attached to this train, apparently.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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