There’s a lot going on here—action-flick mayhem, class warfare commentary, you name it.
Bong Joon-ho takes a page from the off-kilter Terry Gilliam playbook and transforms it into something that’s infinitely better than anything Gilliam could come up with. After earth’s climate goes into a deep freeze and becomes uninhabitable, what is left of humanity populates a speeding train that continuously circumnavigates the globe. The rich reside in luxury in the train’s front cars while the grimy plebes are crowded into steerage. Chris Evans is the messiah figure who rises up and brawls his way to the front while a bizarro, bucktoothed Tilda Swinton tries to keep the lower classes in their place. There’s a lot going on here—action-flick mayhem, class warfare commentary, you name it. But mostly it’s just a giddy, propulsive blast.