Snowpiercer Reviews

Ther least from Bong: too much superficial survival of the fittest stuff, too much gore violence, clisés. Just the train idea works ok

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. First of all, even though I have read a lot of comic-books when I was still living in France, I have to admit that I have never read 'Le transperceneige' which is too bad but, thanks to this movie, I'm actually quite eager to check the damned thing now. Anyway, about the movie itself, it turned out to be pretty good. Indeed, first of all, I thought it looked really neat, especially if you think that they had a budget of 40 million dollars which might seem a lot but it is nothing compared to an average US blockbuster (it was still the most expensive Korean movie ever made though). Concerning the story, I thought it was entertaining but, to be honest, I think I have seen too many movies with a similar concept to be really impressed this time. Furthermore, even though the ending was decent, I thought it was seriously predictable and, in my opinion, all the characters were rather stereotypical but, at least, all the actors involved delivered some solid performances. To conclude, even though it didn't completely win me over, I thought it was still quite entertaining and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Full of mixed feelings after watching this movie. I say this because I simply loved Joon-ho Bong's direction, he was really capable putting all the brutality typical from a South Korean movie into a Hollywood one, and I say this as a huge fan of his most famous work, Memories of Murder.

But the plot, well, the concept of a train being the last stand of humanity is just... dumb. Ok, I can get all the metaphorical implications here, but from time to time I couldn't stop myself getting my mind out of the screen to think "well, this doesn't make much sense".

About the ending? I liked it, it fits really well with the thematic of the whole movie, but than again, it just confirms how dumb is the idea to put the whole humanity inside a train.

Leave it to a foreign director working with an international cast and adapting a French graphic novel to make the most audacious and intelligent science-fiction film in a long time. It’s a downer of a film, frequently diverting into absurd territory, punctuated by moments of satire and unafraid of balancing out poetic images with brutal violence. It may not always smoothly traverse the different tones or twists and turns in the story, but I give it high-praise for even bothering to try it out.

Rarely does a film emerge from the hands of the Weinstein Company without numerous edits and obvious bits of interference. So a round of applause is in order to Korean director Boon Jong-Ho for sticking it to them and demanding that his original vision without compromises or edits make it to the screen. That he won is a wonderful bit of kismet, but the downside was Harvey Weinstein’s wrath – dumping the film with a small scale release and limited promotion.

Pity, this film deserves to find a larger audience. I loved every moment of its audacious choices, whether or not they turned out to be fully formed ideas or half-formed sketches is beside the point. Snowpiercer is a film that makes a never-ending train ride to nowhere in particular seem like its own brand of hell, and exactly like our current political and social landscape. As the Have-Nots struggle and try to revolt for a piece of the Haves, the film echoes various revolutions and uses that ideology to slowly unfold a darkly satiric film.

The only true point at which the film threatened to lose me was when we came upon the conclusion to the story, which ended up in a different location than I thought it was willing and ready to go. If the film had ended with the destruction of the train, Snowpiercer would have had more philosophical impact and allegorical weight. The only way to save humanity at this point would be to destroy the existing structures and start again. But it continues to go on, and that ending is a bizarre choice which feels too hopeful and optimistic for such a downbeat movie. It didn’t torpedo the film for me, but it did take some of the varnish off of it.

Jong-Ho has assembled an interesting cast, and I mean that as high praise. Each of them brings a unique voice and tone to the film, even if a few them aren’t given much to do, they bring a certain spark or energy to their scenes. The mixture sees Oscar winners (Octavia Spencer, Tilda Swinton), living legends (John Hurt, Ed Harris), character actors (Jamie Bell, Ewen Bremmer, Luke Pasqualino), and a few international stars (Ah-sung Ko, Kang-ho Song, Emma Levie). Alison Pill shows up in a single scene, one that is so gonzo and brilliant that it may just be the highlight of the film. Pill’s uber-perky facial contortions lead into a shootout, and she sells the hell out of the material while simultaneously making the case that she needs to be given bigger, better roles in the future. (Of course, I felt this way after her scene-stealing in Scott Pilgrim and Midnight in Paris.)

But Snowpiercer’s greatest asset is Chris Evans. Best known for playing Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Evans is really developing a talent for playing conflicted heroes who lead the troops into battle. Of course, Marvel would never let Evans go as dark in those films as he does here. Maybe Snowpiercer will be the film that cements Evans as more than a pretty face (and body, but I digress…). A monolog late in the film sees Evans pour out year’s worth of guilt and resentments, and he’s mesmerizing to watch. Even better is a climactic scene in which he is tempted to become the new head of the ever-moving train, abandoning his mission and joining the 1% at the very top of the food chain. You can see his breakdown of everything he’s ever believed, every piece of faith in his revolution and mission, that moment of great temptation in which our savior may very well indeed go dark.

What Snowpiercer lacks in subtlety, which is doesn’t even bother with by and large, it makes up for with a sense of imminent danger and unpredictability. It’s almost cruel how quickly it dispenses with characters who seem like they’re destined to make it to the final reel, frequently killing them off in ways that are indifferent or indistinct before realizing that, yes, that character truly did die. Swinton’s callous minister reminds them that they must always know and keep their place, and her character is practically the symbol for the entirety of the film’s political allegory. She is misplaced superiority, a violent moral authority, and severely lacking in compassion, she wouldn’t seem out of place at a Tea Party rally or delivering quips on Fox & Friends.

It used to be that science-fiction took modern day problems and reflected and refracted them in strange, intelligent ways. Somewhere along the way it turned into lasers blowing shit up in the space real pretty, and while that can have its charms, it’s exhausting when year after year that is the only meal option being given to you. It was exciting to see 2014 give us smart comic book movies in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a monster-fest in Godzilla, but I think Snowpiercer will be the one to go the distance in the end. Inch by tenuous and hard-fought inch, we climb forward in the train, wondering what strange vision will greet us next. While the ending may be a strange place to exit the journey, what a ride it was to get there.

I have rarely felt that my time was wasted... this film takes the cake. Martyrofevil hit the spot right on with his sentence, "A decent concept so badly conceptualized that it's hardly coherent." In other words, avoid this at all costs.

Recently, many Korean directors leaped onto Hollywood for movies like 'The Last Stand' and 'Stoker'. Actually, none of them were not bad, those were pretty good first steps to test their potential into the world's largest arena. For a change this movie was Korean but had 99% western actors in it and also was in English. Probably the first Korean English language movie as per my knowledge.

An intense action-drama filled with some amount of mysteries to put viewer edge of the seat. Well written screenplay to form into an entertaining cinema. More like it was inspired by some computer game or games can inspire by this. The whole story takes place on a non-stop moving train which carries only survivors after failed experiments regarding global warming. Each portion of the train carries different class people to keep the human kind balanced. But the problem arises when one of the box people tries to break all the barriers.

There were no flashbacks in the picture, but was narrated in a voice like a bedtime story. If you liked 'Dredd' or 'The Raid Redemption' you would like it as well because in those movies prime preferences were given to stunt sequences and suspense than the story and twist. That is why all these flick looks alike, but distinguished by their locations and character appearances.

The first half was very good, but further moving toward the second half kind of fall short to keep the same momentum. It might be because they were not digging deep of what they're showing on the screen. Overall a pleasing story, but the end was ordinary, looked like same villain trick from various movies. After the great first half and average second, it is hard to put them together to say one hell of a movie because of the falling graph draft from starting point to the end. One should go for it only if he's expecting good actions, thrilling suspense and the great visuals.

7.5/10

The cast is an amazing selection of great actors. It is just plain epic how many A listers are in this. The concept is rather intriguing and a different take on the post-apocalyptic genre. The cinematography has a nice grittiness to it. It's interesting to think of the train as it's own country. You have different sections which could be considered different states. The action is pretty awesome and brutal. The classroom scene was pretty morbid and that's all I can say without giving anything away about it. This is one of those movies were the great cast actually succeeds in making a bad ass film. The characters are portrayed well. There are some wicked twists that are quite unexpected. I think this is one of Chris Evans' best performances. The ending was beautiful. This is definitely one of my favorites and I could definitely see myself watching this again. I highly recommend checking it out.

Snowpiercer is a truly unique experience. Its amazing visuals and great concept make it one of the most memorable films of recent years for me.

If the Weinstein company succeed in getting their wish of cutting this film by 20 mins for the North American release, the vision of Joon-ho Bong will be tarnished. The pace of the film in its original form works extremely well, particularly in terms of the impact it generates by juxtaposing explosive action sequences with scenes that are focused on story detail. It's structure is most effective as it stands and it will suffer if the aforementioned get their disreputable fingers on it.