John Carpenter and Bong Joon Ho Make a Perfect Collaboration

After battling deep into the heart of a desolate city to retrieve the kidnapped President of the United States, Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) hands over a cassette tape at the end of Escape from New York. The tape, we’re told, contains the secret to nuclear fusion, a technology that could convince the warring nations of the world to finally stop their fight and finally erach peace. But when the President plays the tape, we hear not scientific secrets, but the sounds of “Bandstand Boogie” Snake destroys the tape as he limps away, confident in the oblivion that follows.

Now compare this to a scene in Snowpiercer where, after battling from the depths of the train that holds the last of civilization following a natural disaster, Curtis Everett (Chris Evans) faces down the inventor Wilford (Ed Harris). Wilford explains that both the train and the revolution that Curtis just led are necessary parts of sustaining life. Wilford offers Curtis a position toward the front of the train, assuring him that peace will be restored. Instead Curtis blows up the train engine. Two survivors, a young woman and a boy, have lived through the explosion, but now face a frozen wasteland, complete with an oncoming polar bear.

The similarities between these two endings, the first from Escape from New York and the second from Snowpiercer, prove that John Carpenter and Bong Joon Ho have a lot more in common that one would think. No wonder, then, that people are so excited about the revelation that Carpenter will score a movie for Director Bong. As different as the two may be seem, the two share similar cinematic tastes and muses.

Genre Kings

John Carpenter spent his career creating masterfully constructed genre pictures. Sometimes these movies found surprising audiences, as when his low-budget serial killer movie Halloween (1978) went on to gross $70 million and kickstart the American slasher genre. Sometimes they were met with critical and commercial failure, only to find an audience much later, as with The Thing (1982).

Carpenter was rarely considered an auteur in his own time and never an Oscar favorite. He didn’t fit alongside artier guys like David Cronenberg and David Lynch, he didn’t see his movies as making big social statements (even when, like the anti-capitalist sci-fi comedy They Live, absolutely did make a social statement). Instead he saw himself as a follower of John Ford, a maverick who wants to make a good genre picture and nothing more.

Which is, of course, why he’s beloved by filmmakers such as Bong Joon Ho. Since his sophomore film, the 2003 neo-noir Memories of Murder, Director Bong was a critical and audience favorite. That popularity spread into the U.S. with his follow-up The Host (2006), setting off a successful run that led to Best Director and Best Picture wins at the Oscars for Parasite in 2020.

Different as the immediate reception to the two directors’ work certainly is, they clearly have a lot in common. As witnessed most recently in Mickey 17, Bong draws from Carpenter’s effective blocking and camera movements. Carpenter builds dread in his movies with long, controlled camera movements and impeccably-composed shots.

Crafting Genre

When a tracking shot follows Laurie Strode and her friends down a suburban street in Halloween, when it moves with a dog through the halls of an Antarctic science station in The Thing, the viewer cannot help but be overwhelmed by the sense of controlled evil nearby. The mix of blue and red lights, with snow falling on a woman and an extraterrestrial in a human body in Starman (1984) leaves room for actors Karen Allen and Jeff Bridges to sell their romance. Carpenter takes time to watch as blustering American Jack Burton and his Chinese-American friends get ready for a showdown in Big Trouble in Little China (1986), using the suffocating space of an elevator to play up the awkward humor.

Each of these moments serve their stories, going for expected beats instead of grand statements about the meaning of life. But each of them works precisely because of the way Carpenter makes outrageous ideas legible and effective.

That quality is even more important for Bong, who often blends together various genres in his films. The Host deals with a giant monster lurking in Seoul’s Han River but it turns away from kaiju thrills to family drama, broad comedy, and political satire. Okja (2017) features wild heist sequences, a charming friendship between a small child and a giant pig, and Jake Gyllenhaal giving one of his most unhinged performances. Parasite depicts realistic class struggle but often feels like a slapstick comedy and even a ghost movie.

Bong can blend together all of these tones thanks to the lesson he learned from Carpenter: that outrageous stories require solid filmmaking fundamentals. Mickey 17 may get whacky whenever Mickey (Robert Pattinson) deals with his clone or whenever Mark Ruffalo is on screen doing anything, really. Yet Bong’s camera remains confident and in control, never letting the audience get lost in the craziness.

Moreover both filmmakers have their muses. For Carpenter, it’s Kurt Russell, the former Disney star who grew into a square-jawed John Wayne with more than a little self-awareness. For Bong, it’s Song Kang-ho, whose expressive face and lack of ego allows him to stay consistent across each of the movie’s tonal and thematic shifts. Both of these guys bring out the best in their directors, giving the filmmakers confidence to keep pushing forward with their visions.

Two Great Weirdos

The announcement of Carpenter and Director Bong’s collaboration couldn’t come at a better time. Bong’s latest movie Mickey 17 seems destined to underperform, both with audiences and critics. And if there’s one guy who gets how that feels, it’s Carpenter.

Yet Bong still has juice from his Oscar win and Carpenter’s status as an all-time great is secured. Perhaps their combination will result in a masterpiece that everyone will love immediately. Both men will probably take the same cynical approach as their heroes Snake and Curtis, and say that their collaboration will result in a movie that takes even longer to be appreciated.

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