Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2014

Okay, let me see if I’ve got this straight. After a botched high-tech attempt to halt global warming results in a frozen planet, mankind is reduced to those aboard a single, never-stopping super-train. The haves occupy the front, the peons the back. Some have praised this all-star, high-end sci-fi/fantasy by South Korea’s Bong Joon-ho for its “vision” and (rather obvious) top-down social symbolism. I am not among them. Imaginative, maybe, but mostly just silly. That said, I’d watch it again for Tilda Swinton’s hilariously grotesque performance as a mid-management fascist. Tilda? Hilarious? Who knew? (125 min)