Snowpiercer Bong Joon-ho

Box office

Between its South Korean opening on 27 June 2014 and 23 October 2014, the film earned US$86.7 million worldwide.[151] As of April 2014, it was the tenth highest-grossing domestic film in South Korea with 9.35 million admissions. The film holds the domestic record for the fastest movie (domestic and foreign) to reach four million admissions, which it achieved in its fifth day after premiere, and another record for the highest weekend figure (from Friday to Sunday) for a Korean film, with 2.26 million viewers.[152] The film took in $171,000 on its US opening weekend, averaging around $21,400 per theater.[153] The film grossed US$59.8 million in South Korea and its largest international market was China, with $11.1 million.[154]

Critical response

Film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 94% of critics gave the film a positive rating, based on 258 reviews with an average score of 8.1/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Snowpiercer offers an audaciously ambitious action spectacle for filmgoers numb to effects-driven blockbusters."[155] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 84 out of 100, based on 38 reviews from mainstream critics, considered to be "universal acclaim".[156]

Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly gave the piece an "A" rating, stating, "Snowpiercer sucks you into its strange, brave new world so completely, it leaves you with the all-too-rare sensation that you've just witnessed something you've never seen before ... and need to see again."[157]

A. O. Scott wrote, in his review for The New York Times, "Planetary destruction and human extinction happen a half-dozen times every summer. It's rarely this refreshing, though."[158] Andrew Pulver of The Guardian scored the film most positively, writing, "Snowpiercer works brilliantly, the sum of extremely disparate parts that adds up to cinematic excellence."[159] Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York scored the film five out of five stars, writing, "Sprung from a 1982 French graphic novel and bearing its era's trickle-down tensions, Snowpiercer is a headlong rush into conceptual lunacy—but you'll love it anyway." Rothkopf praises Joon-ho, stating, "... Bong grabs onto the grungy conventions of postapocalyptic adventure with relish. He serves up claustrophobic action scenes (one largely shot in the dark) and ominous, messianic overtones as the band of rebels makes its way forward."[160]

David Denby of The New Yorker spoke highly of the piece, stating it to be, "Violent, often absurd, but full of brilliant surprises, while Bong keeps the center of the action moving toward the front of the train, a considerable feat of camera placement, choreographed mayhem, and cohesive editing", and praising Nekvasil's production design, "Bong and [Nekvasil], provide them with a series of sybaritic astonishments."[161]

Clarence Tsui of The Hollywood Reporter wrote a highly positive review, commenting, "Snowpiercer is still an intellectually and artistically superior vehicle to many of the end-of-days futuristic action thrillers out there." Speaking highly of Bong's film-making, Tsui wrote, "Bong's vivid depictions—aided by Ondřej Nekvasil's production design, Hong Kyung-pyo's cinematography and Steve M. Choe's editing—are exceptional."[162] David Thomson of The New Republic remarked that "The most bracing and liberating thing about Joon-ho Bong's Snowpiercer is not just its lyrical forward motion, but the exuberance with which the film revels in its plot predicament." He furthers praises Nekvasil's "progression of design set-pieces" and Tilda Swinton's performance, saying "She is the life and soul of this riotous party, and you will be sad to see her disposed of, no matter that Mason's ghastly manner has earned it."[163] Scott Foundas of Variety wrote, "An enormously ambitious, visually stunning and richly satisfying futuristic epic from the gifted Korean genre director Bong Joon-ho." Foundas added that Beltrami's original score was "among the generally impeccable craft contributions [to the film]".[164]

James Rocchi of Film.com wrote that, "If the film has one element that never flags or falters, it's Evans."[165]

Some were more critical of the film. Jordan Adler of We've Got This Covered wrote "We leave Snowpiercer more exhausted with questions than invigorated by its unique vision and style. It is a formidable example of directorial control bogged down by poor writing, half-finished effects work and a rather thin exploration of a fascinating dystopian universe."[166] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post found otherwise potentially good acting to be "virtually lost in a tonal mishmash that can never decide between thoughtful political metaphor, lightheartedness and pulverizing violence" and went on to describe the director's "tiresome, slow-motion fetishism, mixing costumes and weaponry in an effort to distract from the scenes' sheer repetitiveness."[167]

Critics' top ten lists

In 2020, Snowpiercer was ranked by The Guardian number 8 among the classics of modern South Korean Cinema.[168] The film appeared on several critics' lists of the top ten best films of 2014.[169]

Accolades, awards and nominations