There's a scene in the dystopian, post-apocalyptic sci-fi fable "Snowpiercer" that turns the tables on how Western audiences perceive non-English-speaking Asian characters in what is — for all intents and purposes — a Hollywood production.

A Korean engineer (played by Song Kang-ho) is revived from a coma, which happens to be his prison sentence for drug addiction. The engineer can't speak a word of English, and his revivers — a band of American rebels who desperately need his expertise on getting to the engine room in the front section of the ever-moving Snowpiercer train that houses the last of humanity — can't utter a word of Korean. With every sign of acute boredom, the Korean engineer points to a translation device hanging on the wall and tells the head rebel (Chris Evans) to put it over his head. This enables the pair to carry out a conversation in their own languages, and one of the first phrases out of the engineer's mouth, ramming into the ears of the rebel, is, "F-ck off!"

That pretty much sets the tone for the rest of "Snowpiercer," based on the French graphic novel "Le Transperceneige." The rebels are at the mercy of the Korean, who does things at his own leisurely pace and demands payment in the form of drugs. When he can't get high, he slumps into a corner and refuses to work, which annoys the rebels to no end. An Asian engineer who does drugs and doesn't work his butt off? WTF?