50 Essential Sci-Fi Films of the 21st Century (So Far)

Seamlessly adapted from French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, and Jean-Marc Rochette, Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer touches down on the titular train, a self-sustaining circumnavigational train that batters across the face of a wintry Earth, keeping the last vestiges of humanity alive.

On board, things are not a cushty socialist paradise where everyone works together for the greater good, but a strictly divided system, running from the rich and spacious forward carriages to the cramped, poverty-stricken conditions in the rear. Chris Evans is Curtis Everett, a survivor from the wrong end of the train who leads his fellow passengers in revolt against the upper classes, battling forward through carriage after carriage to take control of the engine and overthrow the tyrannical Wilford (Ed Harris).

Bong's English-language debut manages to keep most of the themes of the graphic novel intact, especially its focus on the impact of man-made climate change, but expands the focus more to look at social class. Due to a conflict of opinion between Bong and Harvey “Scissorhands” Weinstein, Snowpiercer was held up for release in the West, and after switching distributors and going through hell, it got a release - but never the one this 21st-century 1984 deserved.