THE WORD ON POP CULTURE
  • Home
  • Movies
  • TV
  • Music
  • Sports
  • Pop Culture History
  • Shop

'Snowpiercer' Has Intriguing Start, Will It Go Off the Rails?

5/22/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture: Daveed Diggs and Jennifer Connelly in TNT's Photo courtesy TNT
by Tyler Glover
Before director Bong Joon-ho won three Academy Awards for "Parasite" this past year, he had already given the world another masterpiece back in 2013: the underrated "Snowpiercer."
​
"Snowpiercer" is a remarkable film that explores many different themes including class struggle, the politics of survival, and the fight for equality. It also invites us to a world like we have never seen before. Sometimes, movies take us to a place where we would like to spend more time than just the 120 minute running time. This may not be because the world is a great place to be but because we want to know more about it. If you are one of the ones who saw “Snowpiercer” and thought that, you are in luck. "Snowpiercer" has been adapted into a television show airing on TNT Sunday nights. From watching the pilot, it appears that while this world is an intriguing one to revisit, the execution of setting up the world in the series lacked in some areas.

The series begins very much like the film. Humanity is battling global warming and their efforts to stop it sends the world into a frozen wasteland with temperatures way too low to survive. Aware the efforts could backfire, Mr. Wilford decides to make a gigantic luxury train that can perpetually move across the globe. If you are rich enough, you can buy a ticket to board, which many who believe the end of the world is coming do. However, the day of its departure, multiple people without a ticket storm the train. They are kept in the very back of the train and given little to survive. The rest of the world dies leaving the only survivors on earth the passengers of the train named Snowpiercer.

The series follows Andre Layton, played by Tony-winner Daveed Diggs, who is the only remaining homicide detective left in the world.

So, when a murder occurs in the first class, Mr. Wilford seeks his help to find the killer. Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly plays Melanie Cavill, a first-class passenger and also the "voice of the train." Connelly acts on behalf of Mr. Wilford's wishes. Before Andre was taken from the end of the train, a revolution was being planned to change their fates. Andre sees the opportunity that being able to navigate the train allows him. Andre plans on gaining intel on how a future revolution could occur.

Connelly's performance is the standout here. Melanie is a character we instantly want to know more about. She stays very prim and proper and is a huge proponent of "order." However, you get the sense that there is so much more that lies below the surface with her. There is something she is not telling us. Connelly is finally getting a role since her Oscar-winning performance in "A Beautiful Mind" two decades ago, that is giving her a chance to show us what she can really do. There are lots of questions around Melanie's character and I have a feeling when the time comes for those questions to be answered, Connelly will deliver.

In the film, there are many intriguing and surprising plot twists. The series has set up the world to where some of those same twists could occur. However, there is a plot twist at the end of the pilot that shows that while the series may be in the same world as the film, it is here to make the world its own.

My biggest criticism of the pilot is that it really failed to garner interest in two areas: the murder mystery aspect and setting up the characters other than the two leads. Since the murder mystery is the route the writers are taking to get Andre out of his current state and drive the story forward, it definitely was a missed opportunity to not get us more invested in it. Also, the lower class train occupants are being treated unjustly but the series (so far) has not really explored their world enough to make us have much empathy for them. We are going to need to care about them and their futures for the series to work. I feel the pilot should have definitely made a point to include that. Hopefully, these things will be explored in further episodes and were just given little attention due to having a lot to accomplish in a short amount of time. However, despite these shortcomings, the pilot has me intrigued enough to come back for more.

So, will the series be better than the film? From what we have seen so far, it does not look like that will be the case but this is a show that will be full of plot twists. Will one of them be that my opinion changes into liking the show more than the film? Time will tell.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013


​
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Movies
  • TV
  • Music
  • Sports
  • Pop Culture History
  • Shop