Rating (2.5 out of 5)

Summary: There were interesting parts of the movie. For example, I enjoyed the initial breakout scene. Who doesn’t love a jailbreak? But the good parts are forced together. I found myself scratching my head about why an action was taken, and it was all to force a particular action. The story never felt natural. Overall the bad outweighed the good, and this is a below-average movie.

Plot: The world is frozen over, and the last survivors are on a train the runs in a continuous loop. The refugees are at the back of the train and they are tired of their maltreatment. Curtis (Chris Evans) is determined for them to fight their way to the front of the train.

Detail: There are two ways to watch a movie. One is to just enjoy the ride and sit back to be entertained. You aren’t asking for the social commentary, you are looking for action or laughs. “John Wick” is the epitome of this type of movie. You killed my dog, now I kill everyone. There are too many lulls and close-up scenes for “Snowpiercer” to qualify.

Then there is the other, where you build out commentary about an issue, like social class, and encase the commentary around a plot. The director (Bong Joon Ho) of “Snowpiercer” directed and wrote “Parasite” which meets thiS objective this magnificently. Class structure discussions are embedded in a thriller to win an Academy Award.

In “Snowpiercer” it is all sort of a hot mess. At the end of the movie, they explain a little about how they all boarded and get a brief explanation from Curtis of his motivation. The movie never explains the role of the back part of the train on

There is definitely a class system on the train, but only the front and back of the train are mentioned. There doesn’t seem to be any acknowledgment of any in-between. I was thinking of all the police/security that were killed.

Then there were holes everywhere. SPOILER!!! They took kids from the back of the train, to do a function of gear or machinery. The creator of the machine has the intelligence to design a self-sustaining train, including an aquarium, arboretum, and chicken coop, but didn’t think to design a machine shop.

The worst part is in the reveal. The coup d’etat was the idea of Wilford (Ed Harris) the creator and leader of the train to maintain the delicate balance of the train. You think he would do it more subtly than with ax and gun battles, as so much damage was done to the train. Why not just set an age limit like “Logan’s Run” or poison the food cube? It was nonsense.

The final act of blowing up the train was a bit much for me. We wanted to kill everyone so we could get off the train? And don’t get me started on how the coat fits perfectly on that little boy when they exited the wreckage. There were too many of these inconsistencies for me to enjoy the movie.