Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

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Movie
Bong Joon-Ho’s Snowpiercer was a GREAT film that is one of those cult flicks that put him on the map. I was a bit surprised that the Korean super director (Parasite, Memories of Murder, The Host) chose Chris Evans as the lead character, but it all turned out to be a massive cult hit for the director. So when the graphic novel turned movie was supposed to become a TV series I rolled my eyes a bit. My very first reaction was that we were going to get a rehashed telling of the movie for the first season, and then it would dive bomb into U.S. TV angst that is so popular the last decade or so. So naturally I kind of went into the first season with about as low of an expectation as you can get. Especially due the fact that my love of the Bong Joon-Ho film.

Well, turns out I was completely wrong in my first assessment. Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season doesn’t rehash the movie at all, but takes the concepts from the graphic novel and expands them in a completely different direction. So much so, that I actually can’t really compare the TV show to the movie at all, except for the concepts of the train itself and it’s general goal. Otherwise the series takes a fascinating sharp left turn and deviates in a totally different direction.

The story follows two main characters to the end of the train (so to speak). The first being Melanie Cavill (Jennifer Connelly), the head of hospitality and the commander of the train. She is a powerhouse to the extreme, willing to do whatever it takes to keep the people under her command alive, no matter the cost. The outside is a snow covered landscape of doom and destruction, and keeping this train moving forward, and the different classes of people in their respective areas to accommodate peace and tranquility is her main goal.

The second story is that of former detective Andre Layton (Daveed Diggs) who has been called into first class to solve a murder. There the “coach” passenger is witness to all of the blessings (and curses) of living in first class and being above all of the rest. His goal is to figure out exactly what happened while the series explores the differences between class divisions and the shaky ground that they lie upon as the disenfranchised people in the rear of the train slowly realize just what is happening up front.

Snowpiercer Season 1 diverges HEAVILY from the amazing cult Bong Joon-Ho film, even though Bong had a hand in writing quite a few of the episodes. The very first episode shoots the series off into right field and the show doesn’t really try to capture the same story as the cult film at all. Something which kind of weirded me out at first, but soon became one of my favorite aspects of the show. The movie is definitely superior. I won’t try and sugar coat it, but that doesn’t mean the show isn’t fun. It takes until the half way point for the series to really come into its own, but when it does the tension and brutality that the comic/movie had to offer comes out in full force. It’s voice is much more straight forward and natural, forgoing the fable aspect of the movie for a much more traditionally structured story line.

While Daveed is excellent as the detective Andre, Jennifer Connelly really steals the show here. She’s ruthless, graceful, and you can’t take your eyes off of her in whatever scene she’s in. The portrayal of both good guy and villains keeps her versatile, and honestly I think this is the best role she’s been in for YEARS.




Rating:

Rated TV-MA by the MPAA




Video:

Framed in the typical 1.78:1 for a TV show, Snowpiercer comes to Blu-ray with a very gritty and overly stylized look that is quite fetching, but due to it’s heavy stylized nature just won’t ever look demo worthy. The inside of the train is grungy and dirty near the back, with some crushed blacks and a very noisy look to it. The first class area is more gaudy and color filled, but still has that sort of grungy grittiness to it that has a light hazy look. The outside is very much blue and white mixed, with a sort of “watercolor” brush work look that is very much fitting to the movie’s motif, and also showcases some brilliant shades of said blue and white. Overall it’s a very good looking disc that is so heavily stylized that one shouldn’t go in expecting razor sharpness at every corner.









Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is simple, but generally very effective throughout the show. There are some really robust and quick moving action bits that fill out the track a bit, but a lot of the show is very front heavy and deals much more with dialog and score than it is with kinetic action sequences. Dialog is well placed up front, and while they’re not ALWAYS being used to max levels, the surrounds are usually rather active with the background hum of the train, and the rumbling bass of the tracks. It’s a good mix, and while it doesn’t ever go to amazing, the mix is more than satisfying.







Extras:

• All ten one-hour episodes
• Overview
• Class Warfare
• Jennifer & Daveed – Behind The Scenes Interview
• The Train
• Behind the Curtain: Art of the Frozen World

Final Score: ​

Snowpiercer isn’t perfect, as it’s much more “tv” than the high scale fable that was Bong Joon-ho’s masterpiece film, but it’s more than engaging and a lot of fun to watch in it’s own right. The season starts off a bit slow, but really comes into its own around the second half of the show. With season 2 starting, it makes sense to give this one a spin to refresh the memory (or catch up) and Warner’s Blu-ray set of the first season is quite the looker. Recommended.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Daveed Diggs, Mickey Summer, Lena Hall, Iddo Goldberg, Alison Wrighter
Created by: Joosh Friedman, Graeme Manson
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: TV-MA
Runtime: 440 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: January 26th, 2021

Recommendation: Recommended

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will check it out.