Filmsane

Snowpiercer! You’ve heard of it I presume. Yeah, the brilliant 2013 movie (directed by the freshly minted Oscar winner Bong Joon-ho) is finally getting a TV treatment.

That’s right! The Snowpiercer TV series reboot, is expected to premiere on May 17, 2020 and I for one can’t wait for it. Why? Well, because for one it’s Snowpiercer. It’s one of the best movies made, and because the TV series stars one of my favorite actresses. Jennifer Connelly. As far as I can tell, new characters are added for the TV series, but the basic plot remains more or less the same.

Bong Joon-ho remains one of the producers of the Snowpiercer TV series, while Sean Bean has already been cast to appear in the second season. Yes, Snowpiercer has already been renewed for a second season. I guess, that should give us a clue on the quality of the TV series, but we the audience will be the judges of that.

Scott Derrickson & James Hawes helmed the pilot episode of Snowpiercer, and according to the official website, Snowpiercer – the TV series is a reboot of the film’s continuity. It follows the passengers of the Snowpiercer, a gigantic, perpetually moving train that circles the globe carrying the remnants of humanity seven years after the world becomes a frozen wasteland.

Yup that’s pretty much the same as the movie. But, while I’m on the subject of the movie, let’s look back at what made the movie so great. Well, the greatness comes from the movie’s simplicity. In pretty much everything, to be honest. Plot, setting, message and development. The world is shit, and the very fortunate are circling the globe in highly equipped train. The rich are at the front of the train, the middle class are in the middle and the poor are in the back. Sounds familiar?

And not until there’s a mutiny to the system, things will not change. Snowpiercer shows us once again how economic classes can divide us even in a post-apocalyptic shit-hole of a world. Between the have and have-not’s. Between the rich and the poor. And it’s up to the little men of the poor side of the classes, to rebel in order to make a change. I loved Tilda Swinton’s performance here, but Jamie Bell, Chris Evans, Octavia Spencer were not too shabby either. The story development and the set design as well were very linear and again… simple. A group of people needs to get from a point A to a point B in order to get what they want. There are sacrifices along the way, but no mutiny was without a couple of those things. Am i right?

And apparently the income inequality is one of Bong Joon-ho’s favorite topics. He explored it in Parasite (but in a much different way), and he did it in his 2013 movie. I love it. Not that many movies show it in such real, and brutal way. Whenever you see a Hollywood movie you get a fraction of that divide, but not the whole picture. Oh no! The Oscar winner shows us very real and very gruesome picture of that gap.

I don’t know if many of you know that Snowpiercer was also Bong Joon-ho’s first English speaking movie. He was well known and respected actor in his native S. Korea prior to Snowpiercer, but nobody knew him or his body of work in the US. Even Ed Harris needed to watch some of his previous work, in order to accept the role of Wilfred.

So, I beg of you. Watch Snopiercer if you have the chance. You know, before Snowpiercer – the TV show airs next month. The movie is that good. Take a good use of you Pandemic induced, social isolation, and indulge in this masterpiece. You’ll thank me later.

“Snowpiercer” premieres Sunday, May 17 at 9 p.m. ET on TNT