SNOWPIERCER

The age of the train

released OUT NOW! 2013 | 15 | svod

Director Bong Joon-ho Cast Chris evans, Jamie Bell, Tilda swinton, song Kang Ho

We don’t usually review six-year-old movies when they hit Netflix, but we’ll make an exception for this overlooked gem, which never made UK cinemas, still has no British DVD, and was barely noticed when it debuted on Amazon last Autumn.

Adapted from a French graphic novel, it’s set 17 years after a scheme to fix global warming instead created a new ice age, and follows the few survivors as they circle on a preposterously elaborate train – luxurious for the elite front-enders, miserable for the oppressed tail-enders. When Curtis (Chris Evans) leads an uprising, an odyssey towards the engine begins.

Evans – think Cap, but in a beanie – is excellent, but Tilda Swinton steals the show as the train’s deputy despot; all On The Buses dentistry and Yorkshire vowels, she’s a Nick Park plasticine figure come to life.

There’s some stunning action, like a slo-mo axe fight, but the production design impresses most. As Curtis and co proceed from squalor to splendour, through hothouses, schools and saunas, you’d think Luc Besson and Wes Anderson had teamed up to blow the $40 million budget on sets. Neither the train’s topography or the final twist make any sense, but you’ll be too busy feasting your eyes to care. Ian Berriman

The look of Tilda Swinton’s character was based on a photograph of american ornithologist Roxie Collie laybourne.

The Edge was determined to stop Bono singing.