It’s the silent classic “Metropolis’’ on rails as the proles revolt against first-class passengers on a supertrain circling the globe following an environmental disaster in the wild sci-fi epic “Snowpiercer.’’
Seventeen years after an attempt to stop global warming went terribly awry and set off a new Ice Age, what remains of humankind is strictly stratified — horizontally — on the train.
The proletariat — referred to as “freeloaders’’ by the train’s snooty inventor and entrepreneur Wilford (Ed Harris, back in “Truman Show’’ mode) — live in squalor at the back of the train, living on green glop.
After the latest visit by Wilford’s officious lieutenant (a buck-toothed Tilda Swinton) to select a child from third-class to be spirited away for mysterious reasons, Curtis (Chris Evans of “Captain America’’) joins with his elderly mentor Gilliam (John Hurt) in a plot to take control.
Joined by Edgar (Jamie Bell) and the mother of the latest abducted child (Octavia Spencer of “The Help’’), they begin battling their way past Wilford’s personal army.
Early on, they recruit the services of the drug-addicted Korean inventor of the train’s security system (Song Kang-Ho) — who insists on bringing along his daughter (Ko Ah-sung).
With a class consciousness also reminiscent of “Titanic,’’ the rebels discover things are much, much nicer as they work their way toward the front of the train, encountering greenhouses, cars equipped with swimming pools, posh compartments — and discos filled with Champagne-swilling swells.
There is also a memorable encounter with a very pregnant and very strange teacher (Alison Pill of “Milk’’) and her nursery-school class.
Along the way, there are battles with Wilford’s menacing chief henchman (Romanian actor Vlad Ivanov, the abortionist in “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,’’ who doesn’t say a word).
Eventually, Curtis has a showdown with the seemingly courtly Wilford, who has some ghoulish ideas about maintaining his train.
The beautifully designed train is one of the most memorable in screen history, even if the exterior shots of it smashing through frozen vista are rendered with less than state-of-the-art special effects.
“Snowpiercer’’ has been in the news for more than a year because of reports that its US distributor, Harvey Weinstein, has tried to pressure Korean director Bong Joon-Ho (of “The Host,’’ making his English-language debut) to trim the slightly overlong film.
The director didn’t give in, so Harvey has apparently consigned this film to the specialty film ghetto, where it probably won’t linger for very long. Don’t miss it — this is enormously fun visionary filmmaking, with a witty script and a great international cast.