Snowpiercer - BLU-RAY

After climate change freezes the planet an extreme survival train with a small population struggles to stay on track. We learn what's going on as some of the characters do. The elite take care of themselves at everyone else' expense so the masses eventually want justice. This common theme is presented with very good cinematography and CGI and acting even bearing with occasionally unreal dialogue. Some of the characters seem real and likeable so we learn to hope for them on the wild ride through an endless blizzard.

What Snowpiercer has to its advantage more than most standard action or post-apocalyptic films these days are its interesting ideas. From the opening moments where the audience is exposed to a flurry of exposition placing us in a world where man has attempted to control nature and in return has cursed our earth to a frozen eternity I was hooked. The only survivors being locked within a speeding train, built and engineered to last forever, traveling the same course over and over again, completing the circle around the globe once a year. We learn of the passengers at the back of the train, those who are treated on a sub-human level and the few within the beaten and battered group that are planning a resistance, a revolution. This may instinctively conjure up comparisons to Elysium wherein the rich and poor are so distinctively separated that it seems convenient for the film to be interpreted as some type of propaganda, but the director never allows his film to slip into this kind of piece. Instead the throughline of Snowpiercer remains an unrelenting and unforgiving journey from one end of this locomotive to the other wherein our protagonist Curtis (Chris Evans) not only discovers the layers and the societal structures of those who live ahead of him, but how easily they have forgotten what is taking place not three cars away. Where many a post-apocalyptic film will maintain the focus on how society has come to work in the wake of failing and in turn sacrificing character development both this and The Rover prove that it is the actions and mentalities of the characters you create that define the rules of the world and not the mounds of exposition you have them spurting so that we understand those rules. Snowpiercer wastes little time explaining things, it trusts its audience and it gives only a brief amount of set-up before diving into the narrative that Curtis, his second in command Edgar (Jamie Bell) and their wise old leader, Gilliam (John Hurt), are setting in motion to push forward. What follows is a layered and engrossing series of obstacles that avoids feeling like a video game by creating these characters and dynamics between them to where we can't help but become invested.

First of all, you have to buy into the premise. It's the near future and global warming is for real, so the scientists come up with a solution which, in fact, fixes the problem. They also kill everything on the planet with a catastrophic cold wave. The cockroaches survive as usual as you will find out later in the film. There are survivors who manage to board a train that circles the globe non-stop...forever. The train is the foresight of a man known as Wilford. I usual give actor credits here, but it is suggested I not, as it is a big surprise. It wasn't to me, but if you want to look it up go to IMDb or something. Like much of the world, the train is split up into the "have-nots" led by Curtis (Evans) and his mentor, Gilliam (John Hurt). They live in the back of the train, far removed from the "haves" way up front. The 1 percenters are led by Wilford and his second in command, Mason (Swinton). And before I go much farther, she's a hoot. Especially when the contingent reach the kiddie's classroom. In addition, there are a collection of thugs whose mission is to keep the riff raff in the back where they belong. They live in squalor and get a protein bar for their daily ration. I won't go into the content but it will put your gag reflex in overdrive. As fair warning there are a couple more events that will unsettle most. But the film does do a good job of setting the stage for the conditions these people have been in for 17 years and why they want to escape. Armed with little more than their determination, the rebellion is afoot. One by one the rebels move up car-by-car until they reach the domain of the guy in charge of the locks between the cars. Namgoon Minsoo (Kang-ho Song) is the guy and is aroused from his cryogenic sleep along with his daughter, Yona (Ah-sung Ko). He agrees to help (always in Korean) but only if he's supplied with a regular supply of homemade drug that he's addicted to. Essentially the film is as simple as that. Get to the engine where Wilford lives. The combat portions of the film are excellent. The film is purposely dark and gloomy. It isn't a feel good movie. People you become fond of are killed. Kids are in the mix and are exploited, but darn if this isn't a refreshing change from the stuff we are often exposed to in mainstream movies. The film ends on a bleak, if hopeful note. But this isn't mainstream. Which is probably why the woman walking out of the theater behind me said to her husband. "That's the worst movie I've ever seen"! She obviously hasn't see the latest "Transformers."

Snowpiercer introduce us to a world that has been desolate by humanity and the only place humanity can now survive is on a train that wraps around the world. But beyond that the acting is truly the biggest standout of this movie with all actors turning in an amazing performance.

used to love this movie until the TV series came out still a good Movie if you like end of world kinda movies