“Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season” is riveting and a wonderful ride from the first episode to the season finale. I’m definitely addicted to this series and can’t wait for more. Highly recommended!
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TITLE: SNOWPIERCER: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
SERIES RELEASE DATE: 2020
DURATION: EPISODES 1-10 (440 minutes)
DVD INFORMATION: 16×9, English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English SDH
COMPANY: Warner Bros. Entertainment
RELEASED: January 26, 2021
Developed by Josh Friedman
Directed by James Hawes, Sam Miller, Helen Shaver, Frederick E.O. Toye, Everardo Gout
Written by Bong Joon Ho, Benjamin Legrand, Jacques Lob, Graeme Manson, Kelly Masterson, Jean-Marc Rochette, Donald Joh, Chnaka Hodge, Aburey Nealon, Tina de la Torre, Hiram Martinez, Lizzi Mickery
Producer: Alissa Bachner, Jiwon Park, Holly Redford, Mackenzie Donaldson, Bill Balas
Executive Producer: Marty Adelstein, Dooho Choi, Becky Clements, Scott Derrickson, Tae-sung Jeong, Bong Joon Ho, Miky Lee, Tae-hun Lee, Graeme Manson, Matthew O’Connor, Chan-wook Park
Co-Executive Producer: Ben Rosenblatt, Lizzie Mickery, Aubrey Nealon, Christoph Schrewe, Zak Schwartz, Kiersten Van Horne
Co-Producer: Scott Watson, Victoria Burkhart
Music by Bear McCreary
Cinematographer as John Grillo, Thomas Burstyn
Edited by Jay Prychidny, Cheryl Potter, Marta Evry, Allan Lee, Steve Polivka
Casting by Wittney Horton
Production Design by Barry Robison
Art Direction by Thomas P. Wilkins, Paul Alix, Gwendolyn Margetson
Set Decoration by Louise Roper
Costume Design by Caroline Cranstoun, Cynthia Ann Summers
Starring:
Jennifer Connelly as Melanie Cavill
Daveed Diggs as Andre Layton
Mickey Sumner as Bess Till
Alison Wright as Ruth Wardell
Iddo Goldberg as Bennett Knox
Lena Hall as Miss Audrey
Sheila Vand as Zarah Ferami
Aaron Glenane as The Last Australian
Kwasi Thomas as Z-Wreck
Mike O’Malley as Sam Roche
Karin Konoval as Dr. Pelton
Miranda Edwards as Lights
Steven Ogg as Pike
Annalise Basso as LJ Folger
Emma Oliver as Winnie
Sam Otto as John Osweiller
Rowan Blanchard as Alexandra Cavill
Sean Bean as Joseph Wilford
Susan Park as Jinju Seong
Manoj Sood as Rajiv Sharma
Ian Collins as Tristan
Michel Issa Rubio as Santiago
Andrea Ware as Jackboot Tyson
Aleks Paunovic as Breachman Boscovic
Jaylin Fletcher as Miles
Happy Anderson as Dr. Henry Klimpt
Attention all passengers – the revolution is coming! Get ready for more secrets, plot twists, and reveals as Warner Bros Home Entertainment takes you on an epic journey with the release of “Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season” on Blu-ray and DVD on January 26, 2021. Strap yourself in for an exhilarating ride with all 10 episodes from the first season, plus enjoy the captivating extra features, behind-the-scenes interviews, featurettes, and more!
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray, which I am reviewing in this blog post.
The opinions I share are my own.
Back in 2013, filmmaker Bong Joon Ho (“Parasite”, “Okja”) would direct the South Korea-Czech film “Snowpiercer”, a film adapted from the 1982 French graphic novel “Le Transperceneige”.
The film would receive critical acclaim and the film was Bong Joon-Ho’s English language debut and as the film was created for $40 million, it is one of the most expensive Korean film productions ever.
Seven years later, a TV adaptation of the film would premiere on TNT in May 2020.
“Snowpiercer” is a film that is set in the future after the world’s became a frozen wasteland when an attempt to stop global warning by climate engineering backfires.
As the world is undergoing a new ice age, survivors are taken into a circumnavigational train known as the Snowpiercer ran by transportation magnate, Wilford.
The train is run under an iron fist as the billionaire Wolford and the Snowpiercer has thousands of carriages in which many are separated by class. The wealthy is part of first class and it goes down to the poorest of people who are seen as the dredges of society, people who wanted to survive and stormed into the train but not knowing their life in the train is without doctors, food and literally surviving on whatever they can. This group known as “The Tails” (as they live in the tail end of the train) want humanity to unite and want equality, while those in the upper class want order.
But a serial murder is happening on the Snowpiercer and they look to one of the members of the Tails, a former detective to help solve the case.
The story focuses on the following individuals:
- Andre Layton (portrayed by Daveed Diggs) – A former detective who is now the leader of the Tails. As they were to lead a revolution against the First Class, he is taken out of the tail end chosen by Wilford to solve a murder case. He raises his intelligent son Miles alongside his girlfriend, Josie.
- Melanie Cavill (portrayed by Jennifer Connelly) – The most powerful woman on the Snowpiercer who is the voice of Wilford. She is the head of Hospitality. She is the voice of the train, she is the engineer and more. But she is also a mysterious woman with secrets.
- Bess Francis Till (portrayed by Mickey Sumner) – She is a member of the Snowpiercer’s security force. A former Detroit PD first-year rookie officer who must work with Layton to find out who is responsible for the murders on the Snowpiercer. She is married to Jinju, the agricultural officer and the finest chef and a member of the elite.
- Ruth Wardell (portrayed by Alison Wright) – She is the Deputy of Hospitality and believes in order and very loyal to Wilford and Melanie. She looks after the First Class, and could care less about the Tails.
- Miss Audrey (portrayed by Lena Hall) – The Madam of the Nightcar of the Third Class and is a vocal person of the social indifferences on the Snowpiercer. She runs a spiritual healing room.
- Bennett Knox – One of the main engineer’s of the Snowpiercer and is Melanie’s lover and also knows her big secret.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season” is presented in 1080p High Definition (16×9) and in English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Picture quality is warm and looks great in HD!
No blemsishes or softness, overall picture quality is great. As for the lossless audio, dialogue is crystal clear, while ambiance can be heard on the surround channels, especially during action and crowd scenes.
Subtitles are presented in English SDH.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season” comes with the following special features:
- Overview
- Class Warfare
- Jennifer & Daveed – Behind The Scenes Interview
- The Train
- Behind the Curtain: Art of the Frozen World
EXTRAS:
“Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season” comes with a Blu-ray and a digital copy code.
I have been familiar with Bong Joon-Ho’s “Snowpiercer” film but I watched it only after completing the “Snowpiercer” TV series which was shown on TNT.
“Snowpiercer” is a riveting series that is crime drama, science fiction drama and a fascinating look at how humanity tried to curb out global warming by shooting special missiles in the sky in hopes to control the weather but ending up hurting the planet by creating an ice age.
The Snowpiercer is a high tech train which was to carry people chosen for certain duties, certain skills to survive the calamity and to literally ride throughout the globe in hopes that humanity can continue to survive.
But there was civil unrest as humanity who were not allowed onto the train fought their way to the final trains where they were confronted by the Snowpiercer’s cold security force who massacred many, but those who survived were confined on the back train.
People who survived on whatever they can eat and whatever technology they had. Gangs vs. gangs, people dying because they received no medical attention and literally became the rats of humanity inside the Snowpiercer.
For years, these individuals known as “The Tails” planned their revolution to fight back as they can no longer live in terrible conditions. Led by Andre Layton, the revolution was all set and planned until the security came to the tail end and pulled him out.
Because Layton was a detective, the billionaire, owner and founder wanted Layton to solve murders on the Snowpiercer in which people were bludgeoned to death and people are missing bodyparts.
For Layton, he agrees if his people can be helped but also to observe what is on other trains and see the different classes on the various carriages to formulate a plan for the revolution.
Meanwhile, the voice of Snowpiercer and also the representative of Wilford is Melanie Cavill, a brilliant engineer who works in hospitality, who helps maintain the Snowpiercer and more. But she holds a mighty secret that can tear everyone apart on the Snowpiercer.
“Snowpiercer” features many characters and that is one the core strengths of the series, the ability to build on character dynamics and to make you feel interested in the many characters introduced into the story.
For example, Bess Francis Till is one of Melanie’s top security officers, who is assigned to work with Layton. In the beginning, she is seen as one of the cold members of the security forces but the more she works with Layton and gets to see things through his eyes, she becomes a fascinating character to watch.
As with Miss Ruth Wardell, the Deputy of Hospitality that handles the First Class but a lot of the work when Melanie is busy. But Ruth is all about order and wanting the Tail to know she has no compassion or any tolerance for their misbehavior. But when those of the First Class try to use her and plant thoughts into her head that she should be in charge of the Snowpiercer, that makes things interesting.
And there are numerous characters that you will come across and how they all are tied to the primary characters.
And what no one will expect is the shock season finale that makes you want to watch more and more! I can’t wait for season two, that’s how much I was captivated by this series (which I binged watched the first season all on a single day). And I hope the writers find the same consistency for the second season! Because I was truly captivated by the overall story and its characters.
“Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season” is riveting and a wonderful ride from the first episode to the season finale. I’m definitely addicted to this series and can’t wait for more. Highly recommended!
PURCHASE THIS BLU-RAY ON AMAZON