Snowpiercer (2014)

[Sam]

Tilda Swinton though. She should be in more movies. Seems like she's killing it this year: Grand Budapest Hotel, Only Lovers Left Alive, and Snowpiercer (if you ignore the technicality and count that as a 2014 movie)

[Ezen Baklattan]

She's also in Hail Caesar (!) and Judd Apatow's new film.

 

Part of my would have been interested in seeing Kenneth Branagh as Wilford, though.

Edited July 16, 2014 by Spaghetti

[Plain Old Tele]

I think he would've been much better, honestly.

[Gopher]

There was a calmness and gentleness to Harris that I really appreciated. I loved his "You're acting like a crazy person." 

[Plain Old Tele]

There was a calmness and gentleness to Harris that I really appreciated. I loved his "You're acting like a crazy person."

Yet a fair amount of his dialogue was also grandiose and over the top (in terms of verbiage, at least). I think I would've preferred a slightly hammier actor (for lack of a better word). It's a minor complaint, though.

[Wormhole]

It was... Solid.

 

It wasn't a revelatory experience, and some of it even felt a bit trite. Helmut Bakaitis might as well have been cast to play Wilford. The ending wasn't as smart or innovative as a lot of people are making it out to be, and spare me any "I didn't get it" comments. I got it. 

 

That said, it's slick, stylish, and well-directed. I appreciated the exposition (or lack thereof). The action scenes were cool and memorable. The ensemble was great. Swinton was a standout. Evans was rock-solid. 

 

It's a solid B for me right now. I enjoyed it, but it's definitely behind Apes as far as 2014 sci-fi goes. 

[JohnnyGossamer]

Eh... Maybe Branagh. But, mostly because I love Branagh. Unfortunately thought he kind of whiffed in Jack Ryan and I'd expected him to great in that. That said, gotta love Ed Harris. He's played fiendish roles before and done well by them. I'd consider this similar to his work in Truman Show, Beautiful Mind and History Of Violence.

Edited July 16, 2014 by JohnnyGossamer

[mattmav45]

Ambitious as fuck.

 

I've said it before but ambition tends to cover up a lot of flaws in films with me.  Give me something different, give me something unique, give me something that I will flourish in my mind long after the viewing.  Snowpiercer has enough going for it to be a damn good watch despite all the flaws (and there's a good amount of them).  At times it feels like nothing more than raw unadulterated cinema.  Great stuff.

 

To me this film is all about Joon-ho Bong.  Despite not being his best stuff, this is a showcase of all his talents as a filmmaker.  It is in fact why I like the film in spite of its flaws.  It's always good to see a talented filmmaker experiment and play with his style.  Even when it doesn't turn out as one might of hoped the flaws themselves are ripe for discussion.

 

The way Bong builds atmosphere so seamlessly is indeed a sight to behold.  The beginning of the film in the tail end of the train is a good example of this.  Dark, gritty, grainy, but most importantly brilliant.  This sets up the foundation for everything that comes after.  Each and every transgression up the train had its own unique mood and tone.  

 

Much like he did in The Host, Bong is able to shift genres and tones at whim during the film.  It is in fact impressive how he is able to tinker with film aspects such as what is attempted here.  There are scenes on display here that are showcases of high-quality filmmaking.  Scenes of heavy violence are complemented with elegant camera angles and music.  I love contrast like what was on display here.  The highlights here live up to their name.  I think of the encounter in the engine room with the visuals of the train interacting with the ideas.  Legendary.  

 

Unfortunately, this just didn't have the fluid feel of Bong's previous work.  There are some prolonged stretches where the film stays kind of neutral and stagnant.  Perhaps this is as a result of the highs being very high, but the point nonetheless stands.

 

If I could pinpoint any ultimate flaw here it would have to be the human characters.  They aren't necessarily bad, but they do come off as kind of bland.  I feel like Bong's past work has used his characters to great effect.  They are very crucial to his ability to shift genres and tones at a whim.  Despite these complaints this was still a damn good watch.  One simply has to wonder what we could be looking at here with badass characters complementing the more idea-driven storyline.

 

It may not be Joon-ho Bong at the top of his game, but he nonetheless remains a fascinating talent to watch.

[BK007]

As I said in the Apes thread, this movie is amongst the likes of Lockout and Pandorum.

 

Overrated immensely now.

[BK007]

To me one of the most surprising things about this film was the fact that main characters just died in situations when they would be expected to die.

 

When Jamie Bell has a gun held to his head and you expect Evans to do the Hollywood thing and do what is neccessary to save his life, it doesn't happen. That was quite shocking to me, watching an English language film and thus being in Hollywood mode watching it.

 

Yeah, it had some balls, but ultimately, a lot of it felt very underdeveloped.

 

The CGI was creaky, the environment wasn't as seamless or engaging as people make it out to be.

[Blankments]

Fantastic movie. The action is great, but there's a lot of solid character work too. The ending was kinda disappointing, but otherwise an interesting world. Evans proves (for the first time personally) that he's a fantastic actor. Great sci-fi, great movie A(+?)

Edited July 16, 2014 by Blankments

[Blankments]

I couldn't believe how bad this was after all praises I heard. It is Elysium 2.0 self judging more intelligent, even less subtle and less visually satisfying. It's a black and white tale about the oppressed breaking the system 25/100

If I remember correctly, Elysium made the mindnumbing decision to portray the upper class as maniacally evil bad guys, never acknowledging how the ending doomed the earth without population control. That automatically makes it worse than Snowpiercer IMO

[JohnnyGossamer]

As I said in the Apes thread, this movie is amongst the likes of Lockout and Pandorum.Overrated immensely now.

What was your take on the other pair of widely acclaimed sci-fi films released this year, Under The Skin and Edge Of Tomorrow?

[Plain Old Tele]

...Elysium made the mindnumbing decision to portray the upper class as maniacally evil bad guys...

 

Eh, the upper class were barely seen at all. Their agents were maniacally evil bad guys, though.

[Goffe]

Elysium made the mindnumbing decision to portray the upper class as maniacally evil bad guys

Snowpiercer did the same.

 

 

That automatically makes it worse than Snowpiercer IMO

it is worse, I said it was less visually satisfying and less subtle, but that alone doesn't make the movie worse than Elysium, at least Snowpiercer had some weird enjoyable moments.

Edited July 17, 2014 by Goffe

[Goffe]

Eh, the upper class were barely seen at all. Their agents were maniacally evil bad guys, though.

the rich were evil because they didn't share their wealth (the "Med-Bays" was an allegory), that's what the movie tried to imply.

[BK007]

If I remember correctly, Elysium made the mindnumbing decision to portray the upper class as maniacally evil bad guys, never acknowledging how the ending doomed the earth without population control. That automatically makes it worse than Snowpiercer IMO

 

Elysium is terrible for a lot more reasons than that. World building is so scattershot, it is a wonder that D9 fella did this.

 

What was your take on the other pair of widely acclaimed sci-fi films released this year, Under The Skin and Edge Of Tomorrow?

 

Really liked Edge of Tomorrow. I'm hoping that repeat viewings will make it a favourite because I really enjoyed it.

 

I'm kind of scared to see Under the Skin. Should I watch it? The premise and what I've read about it just creeps me out.

[Water Bottle]

Snowpiecer:

 

A simply fantastic film with such an intriguing premise. I didn't know ANYTHING about this movie before I went in-just that people seemed to really like it and that it was science fiction. I'm so happy that the risk of watching something totally known justified the ticket price.

 

A-

[Plain Old Tele]

So how was the theater?

[Water Bottle]

So how was the theater?

 

Parking was free with validation but it took me forever to find a spot and then to find my car and the instructions on how to exit a bit confusing.

The theater itself was pretty nice, I'm not sure why they IDed me. I don't drink alcohol but okay. The seats were nice-they gave me a lot more room than a normal theater.  The staff was also nice.

 

Overall, it's a pretty good movie theater and I'll go back when I want to watch a limited release they happen to have.