Snowpiercer

Bad CGI, pointless story, many name-stars, and bad violence make this a made-for-TV production more than cinematic viewing, but I didn't hate it. The concept was cool, and it had a great post-apocalyptic feel to it, and the comparison with our society today (but set inside a train instead) was kind of understandable - the message it was trying to give was received loud and clear.

It's not awful, and it is intriguing to watch, but it just feels so pointless by the end. Everyone dies apart from the Korean chick and the black boy, and we are told that it's impossible to survive out in the cold, but they see a polar bear and then seem to be surviving in the wilderness pretty well. It was probably a lie that they couldn't survive outdoors, but then why lie about it? It makes little sense, so it's best just to rate the movie based on its action sequences, most of which are messy, but there are some cool ones (the Agent Smith style fat man in a suit, and the sub-machine gun teacher are highlights).

It reminded me of Cloud Atlas somewhat. There are some good scenes and some glimpses of what could be a good film, but it ultimately falls flat. Chris Evans isn't a great lead, and the rest of the cast are pretty useless. Ed Harris was a surprise. Tilda Swinton is probably the best player here, with Jamie Bell dying early on. John Hurt was useless. The Korean guy is forgettable.

Glad I've seen it as I wanted to see it since viewing the trailer.

C

I thought it was pretty great. It flowed very nicely and I was on board the whole time. If only they had more money for better CGI. Chris Evans was solid but Tilda Swinton's performance was just a bad joke. It was a tense movie with some fantastic moments/sequences that would have greatly benefited from better CGI and more drastic violence.

I liked it a lot for most part, but the ending is pretty stupid.

Riggs has a real hard-on for Chris Evans recently.

The ending makes sense in context, even if you are alive its still life trapped in a steel box, better to take a chance.

Otherwise easy contender for the best film of 2014, plus Jaime Bell does the best Irish accent you are ever likely to hear, THEY ARE FOOKIN WASTED!!!

But what chance? I mean at the end, they effectively made humanity extinct. Making the train crash seemingly made sure that everyone, except for the girl and the boy died.

It was like what 18 years on the train, the natural human instinct would want to break out, the greater issue of humanity itself you would relegate due to a sliver of hope.

I'm just going on what I would feel, i mean the hedonistic people of the front seemed fine but an entire life of that? I would rather die with a futile piece of hope myself.

Well, I have a feeling that there might have been a way to just stop the train, without it having to crash and kill everyone on board, but conveniently leave the two people alive, who are most politically correct to leave alive - a kid and a girl.

I thought this was absolutely horrible and the good reviews seriously baffle me. It completely wastes an awesome concept. It's mind-numbingly boring for most of the runtime (the first hour seriously feels like it goes on forever), the characters are forgettable, the actors all seem like they're in different kinds of movies, and the action sequences are terribly directed/are way too few and far between. The saving grace is Chris Evans who I actually thought gave a very effective lead performance and was the only character I even remotely cared about (his scene where he talks about his past was very well-acted). The other actors are mostly wasted. There are a few decent scenes and from a production standpoint it's fine, so I was trying to give this the benefit of the doubt, but the atrocious ending sealed the deal for me. Will easily be on my worst of 2014 list come year's end. D+

It's a B grade movie through and through. Critics are wanking off to it because of the Korean director when it's otherwise really very ordinary and pedestrian.

After a disastrous bid to reverse climate change submerges Earth into a new ice age, the few remaining human survivors board a vast, perpetual-motion-powered locomotive. Almost two decades later, the still-moving train is defined by rigid social division. The destitute, the ill, and the undernourished live in squalor in the crowded rear cars while others, including enigmatic engineer and inventor Wilford, thrive and even indulge at the front. Desire for revolution, however, is rapidly growing as reluctant hero Curtis, played in a career-best performance by Captain America star Chris Evans, plots to travel by force through the train and gain by force the ultimate bargaining chip: control of the sacred engine. Snowpiercer is an exciting, intoxicating, and truly original science-fiction vision and a potent cinematic experience. It wears its political and social conscious on its sleeve, and this may frustrate certain viewers, but I found its earnest agitation persuasive. The worst I can say of the film is it does not always navigate tonal shifts (from absurd action to satiric humor to brutal tragedy) with as much ease and grace as it should, but this is a minor qualm in relation to the literal trainload of frights, joys, pleasures, and surprises awaiting viewers.

Despite the inherent claustrophobia of the train, the world of the film has a complicated and enormous quality with a new horror or wonder awaiting Curtis and his ever-diminishing squad of conspirators each time they open another door. From the scorched, filth-encrusted metal nightmare which is the rear cars to the aquariums and nightclubs at the front, the art direction is triumphant throughout and a key star of the film. Which is not to discredit or underplay the contribution of an enviable international cast. Evans has never delivered a more intense or serious performance; a third-act monologue which finds him reflecting on past crimes and haunting sights is vividly delivered. And Tilda Swinton is a perverse delight as a nervous, whining, peculiar-to-the-core political minister who becomes a hostage of the rebels'. This is the type of high-wire, entirely unique character performance for which she is so cherished. Everyone else is at the very least convincing and many contribute their own brand of intensity or idiosyncrasy to the enterprise; they range from Jamie Bell to Ed Harris to South Korean star Song Kang-ho to a delirious Alison Pill as a demented, propaganda-sharing schoolteacher in one hilarious sequence.

A-

David is wanking off to it because of the Korean director when it's otherwise really very ordinary and pedestrian. "Oh look at me, I give blockbusters bad grades but I love this little-known Korean movie".

I gave it the same grade as Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Maleficent.

I'm just jerking your chain

I liked it as well for all the reasons David elucidated. I gave it a B+, slight issues in pacing and tonal shifts. Otherwise, really original and enjoyable.

everyone is wrong except for gulli

Among my favorite films of the year. Made for a good double feature with EDGE (which is also great sci-fi but for very different reasons).

It's deliriously bleak and upsetting and yet this is a simultaneously witty, unexpected, and constantly inventive film. It aptly runs like a well oiled machine that's headed over a cliff. The political allegory isn't entirely revelatory but the script makes it FEEL revelatory to me. I've got literally nothing bad to say about it. Phenomenal score, ensemble (in a narrative where we actually have to meet Wilfred, Ed Harris is perfect casting), cinematography, editing, and most importantly direction.

Was this supposed to be a comedy?

Tilda Swinton seemed to think so.

Must have been a shitty year.

I though it was just alright. The action is well done and some of the acting is good but the in-between and the grand scheme of the film doesn't have as much power as I believe it should have had. Also, that last scene doesn't leave the impact that it should because yeah there is life again but those two are going to be dead by the end of the day and thus humanity will be no more.

I enjoyed the movie very much. I'd put it on the same level as Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. My problem was the ending. This would be my favorite movie of the year if not for that. You know that even if the guy opening the doors was right and the snow is melting, there is no sustainable environment out there to survive, even if they don't freeze right away. Thus, the train must survive for humans to survive. Crashing it is stupid. What's the point of seeing a polar bear if there are only two survivors? Again, stupid. The ending brings it from an A to a B+.

The rest of the movie was golden.

YES YES YES! These were exactly my thoughts when the film ended. Evans' character pretty much decided over the lives of everyone on the train himself.

Here's the horrible thing though. If after the crash, the camera panned the wreckage and showed EVERYONE had died, then showed the polar bear and faded out, I would have clapped and declared it my favorite movie of the year. I could have chalked up the fight at the end as human insanity, not thinking about the consequences of what they were doing. It would have been like the ending of The Mist. Dark, but I loved it. Oh well.