Snowpiercer - My Review

Got a text in the morning asking if I was interested in grabbing breakfast with some friends. I asked Lydia if she wanted to join us and she accepted. So Lydia and I walked over to the NoHo Diner and was join by Jes, Chris, Robert and Cait.

Good friends and good food, make for a good morning.

Lydia and I met up later in the afternoon with Jes, Chris and Dallas at the Laemmle theater to see Snowpiercer. I had never heard of this movie but Jes was talking about it during breakfast and it sounded interesting. Here's a brief synopsis: In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off all life on the planet except for a lucky few that boarded the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe, where a class system evolves.

I guess there has been delays in the release of this movie. It came out in Korea back in August of 2013 and was a huge hit, It was purchased by The Weinstein Company back in 2012 and they planned a wide release in the US, but a delay was caused by Harvey Weinstein, an owner of The Weinstein Company, requesting 20 minutes of footage be cut and opening and closing monologues be added. Bong (writer and director) refused to cut it and while he succeed in getting the film released in an uncut form, Weinstein retaliated by relegating the film to Radius-TWC (what a jerk), which meant the film only received a limited release in art house cinemas. In fact it was released in only 8 theaters in the US. But it was announced that thanks to the positive reviews and buzz, the film would get a wider US release and play in over 150 theaters.

Now for my review of Snowpiercer; (non-spoiler stuff) I really enjoyed this movie, so many amazing actors that it's surprising that I hadn't heard about it beforehand. But it sounds like the Weinsteins don't really care about this movie so why promote it.

Here's a list of the cast... Chris Evans, who does an amazing job in this film. Jamie Bell, who I didn't even recognize. John Hurt, who is always brilliant. Tilda Swinton, who brings some humor to this very bleak world. Octavia Spencer, who I was so happy to see in this movie as I'm a HUGE fan of hers and she was fantastic!! And finally Ed Harris, who like Hurt is always great.

This movie makes full use of color, mood and style in representing the various rooms within the train. The higher you got up the class chain the brighter and livelier the colors get. The main theme of this movie is about revolution. Yes the fight for liberty is not an easy one. There will be blood. But it's never used in a gratuitous way. Rather the struggles are a reminder that freedom is a right that many have died for so don't take those blessings for granted.

This film is a thought provoking, chilling, bleak and despairing allegorical tale with a considerable amount of political and moral ramifications such as the dangers of global warming, forced social stratification, lawlessness, cult of personality and disregard for dignified human life.

But with all those good things I have to say one thing I did not like about the film (there will be spoilers from here on out). I did not enjoy the ending, the destruction of the train and presumably almost everyone on board was very anti-climatic. I mean you spend the entire movie watching all the main characters get killed one at a time and it's heart wrenching. And then you get to the end with the Chris Evens' character and you think.. great he's taken down the man and he is going to stop the train and succeed at building a new society. Well the explosion to blow the train door causes an avalanche which wipes our 2/3's of the train, knocking the car down steep hills that no human could survive. Other cars smash into mountain sides and explode. Others are derailed and pile up in a burning mess. These are the last remaining humans on the planet and we just lost everyone with exception of two who manage to get out of the burning train and take their first steps on the snow cover surface. The End.

Did more survive? Are these the only two people left on the planet? What happen to Chris' character?

I get it.. it's a bleak movie, and maybe I'm just use to positive and/or happy endings.. even if all is bad there is always a glimmer of hope, but with this movie there was nothing.

Did this take away my enjoyment of the movie, kind of. Is this a movie I could watch over and over.... Definitely not. But I am glad I saw it and it was very entertaining and thought provoking. I'd give Snowpiercer a solid B