Chris Evans might now forever be associated with the role of Captain America, but some of his most notable performances can be found with the MCU. One of the best films he’s ever starred in, 2013 dystopian sci-fi Snowpiercer, will be hitting Netflix next month.
The English-language debut of South Korean director Bong Joon-ho (The Host, Parasite), the film is set in a world where an attempt to stall climate change went disastrously wrong, resulting in a new ice age that wiped out all life on Earth apart from the inhabitants of the titular train, an over-engineered marvel powered by a perpetual-motion engine that forever traverses the planet on trans-global tracks. Aboard, a rigidly stratified society has developed, with the poor existing in cramped squalor at the rear, the middle class in the bright expanse of the center, and the privileged few partying away their lives in the decadent hedonism of the front. As with any environment consisting of such wide disparity, a revolution is brewing.
Chris Evans plays the central role of Curtis Everett, an inhabitant of the tail section and reluctant leader of the uprising. His performance, filmed not long after he debuted as the Star-Spangled Avenger, imbues the character with complex layers gradually revealed as the film progresses, including later revelations about his past that cast his actions in a far different light and will doubtless alter your perception of him.
Despite a rave reception on the festival circuit, Snowpiercer had a troubled US release due to original distributor Harvey Weinstein wanting to cut 25 minutes of dialogue to bring its events more in line with a Hollywood actioner, as well as bookend the film with expository voiceovers due to his belief the average American cinemagoer was too dumb to understand the story. Bong eventually won the fight for his original vision to be seen, and if you’re yet to experience it, you will not be disappointed.