Hit Or Miss: TNT's Snowpiercer
TNT is gearing up to premiere their new series Snowpiercer. The series is a reboot of the 2013 Bong Joon Ho directed South Korean-Czech film of the same name. The film was adapted from the 1982 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige. Development for the show is helmed by Josh Friedman who also serves as one of the executive producers. Bong Joon Ho remains involved with the series as an executive producer alongside fellow South Korean superstar director Park Chan Wook. There are sure to be familiar faces among the large ensemble cast, but the series stars Daveed Diggs as Andre Layton and Jennifer Connelly as Melanie Cavill. The narrative of the show takes place 7 years after the catastrophic event which caused another ice age extinguishing all life.
The trailer is highly expository, particularly for those who have seen the 2013 film. The general tone is one of intrigue and mayhem. The trailer begins with a low angle shot from a set of train tracks. The tracks begin to shake as a massive train approaches and moves violently over the tracks. A nameless person (Jennifer Connelly) begins to give an announcement. She states the current date and temperature outside. She tells the passengers to brace for a small impact not unlike turbulence on an airplane. The interior of her office has a contemporary wooden structuring with a geometric copper clock placed prominently on the wall above her desk. Her blue high collared suit and professional demeanor present a different image from the bleak exterior of the train. The world is frozen over and all those lucky enough to survive now live aboard a massive train that moves perpetually through the tundra. The trailer then begins to move through the various train compartments which house different groups of people. For those unfamiliar with the film or graphic novel’s premise, it is still fairly obvious that there is a distinct difference between the compartments. There is a voiceover that speaks about these distinctions, the necessity of order, and rule of law.
The premise set forth in the trailer is nearly identical to the previous film. The actual time frame may be different, but that is not clear in the trailer. Digg’s character, Andre Layton, looks to be the same type of quiet revolutionary as Chris Evans’ Curtis. There is a plot hatched beginning at the tail of the train. Director Bong’s film tracks this revolution which is built off of yearning for justice and equality which is not present within the train’s social structure. The train, a dystopian nightmare it may be, shouldn’t feel too different from our current context. There is a rigid class system that is literally divided by the structure of the train. As one moves through the compartments, they would find a large deficit in quality of life. People living in the back of the train have no social mobility available to them. Their status as refuse is precisely what allows revolution to grow, or so it seems.
The show’s argument for its own existence is not well thought out. The trailer contains moments that are pulled directly from the film. A clear and cheap example is the smashing of the arm. In the film, the upper authorities on the train make it a point to punish a poor passenger by sticking his arm outside through a porthole effectively freezing it. They then proceed to smash his arm into pieces with a hammer. This punishment is put on display for the entire resistance to see. It is one of the more shocking acts of violence in what is a very violent film. We see the beginnings of a revolution, which follows the events of the film. The only clear offshoot is a greater focus on the character of Melanie Cavill who holds the same position as Tilda Swinton’s Minister Mason. Swinton’s character was outlandish and uniquely dislikable. She was an amalgamation of history's well known tyrannical buffoons. Connelly’s character seems to have a more emotionally charged backstory and an integral part in the structure of the train. Beyond this, there isn’t much to separate the series from the film.
A glaring issue with the show is its inability to accept its predecessors as adequate representations of the text. This is not unique to this project, but rather it’s a growing issue in the world of film and television. An important detail of the film is that the impetus for the revolution was an orchestrated plan that came from the front of the train. It described the importance of the illusion of revolution and social mobility as a way to assuage the lower classes. Even if the event’s of the show take place before the events in the film, the entire narrative is already explained within the film. The possible insights the series could offer are nullified by its framework. The addition of character development does nothing to increase the impact of the narrative. If the series is anything like the film, it will certainly have a fanbase. The question is, can it really justify its existence? It may be better to miss this and enjoy the film and novel instead.