SNOWPIERCER

[Rev. Powell]

http://youtu.be/nX5PwfEMBM0

After an environmental disaster, the remnants of humanity survive on a perpetual motion train that circles a frozen, uninhabitable globe; the oppressed masses in the back of the train stage a revolution to fight their way through the luxury cars to the engine and seize control of society. A strange premise given a summer blockbuster-style action movie treatment, but with very eccentric non-Hollywood touches (such as a pause in the middle of the action for a sushi break).

*Based on a French graphic novel, made by Korean director Bong Joon-ho.

*Amazing art direction at times. Each train carriage is done in a different style, and you're never sure exactly what you'll see when you walk through the next door.

*There's a very fun villainous performance by Tilda Swinton in here.

*SNOWPIERCER did well in Asia and Europe, but there are rumors that distributor The Weinstein Company isn't promoting it properly in the US and UK due to disagreements with Boon over the ending. I think this may end up being a cult movie along the lines of BLADE RUNNER which isn't seen much in its theatrical run but becomes a big hit afterwards.

I'll give it 4/5 stars.

[dean]

From what I understand the film got a limited theatrical run [partly because of Boon's refusal to cut 20 mins out and add a monologue at the beginning and end] but may end up getting a wider release because of the popular word of mouth.  I hope so, as it's been getting good reviews so far [plus it's nice to see a director stick to his guns and actually be proven right for once]

[zombie no.one]

hmm...sorry I gotta be honest, that just looks like absolutely standard 'epic' Hollywood blockbuster fare from the trailer.

can't always judge a film by its trailer though, of course.

[Neville]

hmm...sorry I gotta be honest, that just looks like absolutely standard 'epic' Hollywood blockbuster fare from the trailer.

can't always judge a film by its trailer though, of course.

My best friend and I always joke about trailers, saying the better the trailer is, the worse the film is gonna be when we watch it. Aside from the joke, there's some truth to it: even the worst film out there has 30 good seconds, whereas a good, complex movie rarely can be sumarized in that time.

As for this film, it's worth checking out and it's far from the standard Hollywood epic. It's dark and genuinely weird at some points. I throughtly enjoyed it, but the constant shifts in tone and pace take its toll. From one point onwards, the filmmakers use every train wagon as a separate universe, and there are of all kinds.

My favourite bit is when the main characters stumble into a school-like wagon, were a female teacher is feeding children all sorts of distorted concepts.

[snowman]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a TV series a couple years back that had a similar premise??

[BoyScoutKevin]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a TV series a couple years back that had a similar premise??

I don't know about that, but it has been several years, since I watched TV on a regular basis.

But, what did we say about foreign films being better than American films? This being a Korean-Czech-French co-production, and yes, with a little American input. Unfortunately, this film is unlikely to give a boost to foreign films here in the U.S. With a cost of $39.2 million, it has grossed only $3.5 million at the American box office. And it only earned $171,187 its opening weekend here in the U.S. And while it played in only 8 theaters, that is still less than $22,000 per theater, which is not good. Still, not all the news is bad for the film. It earned back its cost to make it, and then some, solely from its box office gross in Korea.

[Rev. Powell]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a TV series a couple years back that had a similar premise??

I don't know about that, but it has been several years, since I watched TV on a regular basis.

But, what did we say about foreign films being better than American films? This being a Korean-Czech-French co-production, and yes, with a little American input. Unfortunately, this film is unlikely to give a boost to foreign films here in the U.S. With a cost of $39.2 million, it has grossed only $3.5 million at the American box office. And it only earned $171,187 its opening weekend here in the U.S. And while it played in only 8 theaters, that is still less than $22,000 per theater, which is not good. Still, not all the news is bad for the film. It earned back its cost to make it, and then some, solely from its box office gross in Korea.

I'm not going to look up the numbers but I read somewhere (Hollywood Reporter?) that it is already one of the highest grossing online VOD rentals of all time.

[Dr. Whom]

Caught it the other day. I found it a bit overlong (but I tend to find that of most modern movies past the 100 minute mark). It doesn't quite live up to the hype, because the story isn't too original, and it is played 100% straight. Still, it is visually stunning, there are moments of genius and Tilda Swinton alone makes it worth watching.

[Dr. Whom]

Also, don't get too attached to any of the characters. Chances are they won't survive until the end of the movie.

[BoyScoutKevin]

I still haven't seen the film, but I have started reading the French graphic novel upon which the film was based. It was an interesting read, which I'll report on sometime later.

One of the most interesting, supposed, facts that came out of the reading is that when mankind fell to an eternal winter, apparently, only two films survived. Which films are, apparently, shown on alternative evenings on board the train. One of the films was "Casablanca," and the other film was "Star Wars: Episode VII."

[Muscle Hedonist]

Eh, it's alright. Better than your average action movie for sure, but there's also a lot of better movies around. Might be just my opinion, but I thought the movie was too abstract and surreal, while at the same time it tried to be a gritty action flick.

[Dr. Whom]

I still haven't seen the film, but I have started reading the French graphic novel upon which the film was based. It was an interesting read, which I'll report on sometime later.

One of the most interesting, supposed, facts that came out of the reading is that when mankind fell to an eternal winter, apparently, only two films survived. Which films are, apparently, shown on alternative evenings on board the train. One of the films was "Casablanca," and the other film was "Star Wars: Episode VII."

I read 'La Transperceneige' way back when it came out, so my memory of it is rather vague. However, apart from the general setting, the movie doesn't have too much to do with the graphic novel. It is more of a Miyazaki style adaptation, where the director uses some ideas from the original material to create his own vision.

[Jim H]

hmm...sorry I gotta be honest, that just looks like absolutely standard 'epic' Hollywood blockbuster fare from the trailer.

can't always judge a film by its trailer though, of course.

Heh.  If there's any film that is NOT standard epic Hollywood blockbuster, it's Snowpiercer.  It's a pretty strange film.  I liked it for most of its runtime...  But I found I like it less in retrospect.  Still, it's worth a watch, if just for the fascinating world at its center.  There's also some great cinematography, and great performances (both Korean and in English, point in fact).

[BoyScoutKevin]

I still haven't seen the film, but I have started reading the French graphic novel upon which the film was based. It was an interesting read, which I'll report on sometime later.

One of the most interesting, supposed, facts that came out of the reading is that when mankind fell to an eternal winter, apparently, only two films survived. Which films are, apparently, shown on alternative evenings on board the train. One of the films was "Casablanca," and the other film was "Star Wars: Episode VII."

I read 'La Transperceneige' way back when it came out, so my memory of it is rather vague. However, apart from the general setting, the movie doesn't have too much to do with the graphic novel. It is more of a Miyazaki style adaptation, where the director uses some ideas from the original material to create his own vision.

While I have yet to see the film, I wouldn't be too surprised that they couldn't do a straight-book-to-film film. That they had to adapt the original source to make a film that might be palpable to film audiences. Still, the original is an interesting and memorable read, even if I had to read it in the translated-to-English form. I'll give a report on the original book sometime later, but till then, one difference between the film and the original book is that while children play a part in the film, there are no or mighty few children in the original book.