Primetime DVD Review: “Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season”

DVD Review!

“Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season (BD + Digital) [Blu-ray]” Review by Suzanne 1/23/21

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this post. The opinions I share are my own.

In case you didn’t know, this is the TV version of the 2013 movie “Snowpiercer” starring Chris Evans (which was adapted from a book). It takes place in the future, after mankind, in trying to fix climate change, froze the earth. The rich people got together and built a massive train just for them and their families. However, many regular people forced their way on board with them before the train started up.  Now the people at the back of the train (the Tailies) are poor and starving, while the rich people live in the rest of the train, sectioned off from the rest.  The Tailies want to rebel and overtake the rest of the train, but the rich people try to keep the ecological balance of their part of the train and enforce their privacy with a security force.  They occasionally bring Tailies into the front part to work as maintenance, security and other menial tasks.

I never saw the original “Snowpiercer” movie, so I can’t compare the TNT series to that. I was reluctant to watch either because I had read what they were about, and I’m not a big fan of post-apocalyptic or dystopian movies/shows. They’re usually lacking in hope; everything is dark, dirty and depressing.  I love scifi, but I was raised on “Star Trek,” where everything is clean and hopeful.

However, they sent me the DVD to review, so I had to watch it. It’s not bad.  Things are bad for humanity in this show, but they’re not hopeless. There is a lot of violence, but they do have some nice moments to balance it a bit. It is a very intense show that keeps you watching.

It’s compelling drama as long as you ignore how ridiculous parts of it are. I don’t know about the movie, but it seems to me that without the Tailies, the rich people wouldn’t have anyone to do the manual labor (unless they already had brought on their favorite nannies and other staff). How do you build a track or train that long, and what happens if part of the tracks deteriorate or freeze over? What happens if other things go wrong mechanically on the train. I’m sure that in real life, they have maintenance crews to fix things. It doesn’t make a lot of sense as to why they would build a train to just go around and around on the ice planet, especially when they could have built a city instead, or a spaceship. Why a moving train at all? No one appears to have guns, so either they were outlawed or the rich people didn’t think they would need them, I guess. If they weren’t expecting people to jump on the train, then how do the security guards have all these fancy uniforms?

The show’s two main stars are Daveed Diggs of “Hamilton” fame (Andre Layton) and movie star Jennifer Connelly (Melanie Cavill).  You’ll no doubt recognize other familiar faces in the show, such as Mike O’Malley (“Glee,” “Yes, Dear”), Alison Wright (“Castle Rock”) or Sheila Vand (“Undone”).  Sean Bean joins the show in the 2nd season. Lyaton is the show’s hero from the Tail. He’s brought up to the front of the train to solve a murder because he was a former police detective in Detroit.  He’s forced to help the rich people, even though he doesn’t want to.  Connelly is the heroine (of sorts) who helps run the train and keep the status quo.  She and Diggs have a lot of chemistry.

The movie is, of course, about class warfare. It’s made even clearer by the fact that the rich people are all white or Asian, and the tailies tend to have more black people.  The tailies live in the dark, with no windows, and no creature comforts (I gather they’re back with the luggage? I wonder what happened to all the rich people’s luggage?). Everything looks dirty and raggedy.  The front part of the train is very clean, white and beautiful. They seem to have everything one could want. The show is set 7 years after the train started, and I believe the movie was set later than that. I supposed that makes it a prequel.

There are only 10 episodes, so there are only two disks. There are many bonus features, including an Overview of the show; a segment called Class Warfare; a behind-the-scenes interview with the two main stars; a feature about the train itself; and a segment called “Behind the Curtain: Art of the Frozen World” which focuses the Hollywood magic they use to make the cold parts of the show.  It’s a good show to binge-watch, along with the extras.

MORE INFORMATION:

• Overview
• Class Warfare
• Jennifer & Daveed – Behind The Scenes Interview
• The Train
• Behind the Curtain: Art of the Frozen World

1. First, The Weather Changed
2. Prepare to Brace
3. Access is Power
4. Without Their Power
5. Justice Never Boarded
6. Trouble Comes Sideways
7. The Universe Is Different
8. These Are His Revolutions
9. The Train Demanded Blood
10. 994 Cars Long

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

The opinions in these articles are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TVMEG.COM or its other volunteers.