Review of Snowpiercer (2013) by Spangle — 09 Nov 2014

This one is a bit of a mixed bag for me. Why don't we start with the positives? The acting from Chris Evans, John Hurt, Jamie Bell, and Ed Harris, is marvelous. Evans is really commanding and you can see why he is the leader; he eminates control and determination. Meanwhile, Harris has a certain aura about him that is perfect for his role. He seems to be a God-like figure and when you see him, there is this certain something, as if he walks on the clouds, which is perfect. The special effects are beyond impressive. Award-worthy, honestly. The shots outside the train of the train itself and the surrounding environment and brilliantly designed and brought to life. Truly mesmerizing, as is the cinematography. There is not much for the camera to find, but dammit if it doesn't find every inch of it and brings it to life. Beautiful camera work on this one. The choreography of the fighting scenes is also very good.

Now, moving onto the negative. Tilda Swinton is terrible. I saw a lot of praise for his performance, but I am left wondering what performance people watched. She ruined a large part of it for me. I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be funny or what. The added attempts of comedy in her character and in other moments (in particular one scene with Evans that if you see the movie, you can probably guess what scene I mean) are entirely dark, but too out there and unenjoyable. It messes with the flow of the film and comes off as tacky and, ultimately, as if they were reaching to try and lighten up the dark plot of the film. Another negative is the general premise, honestly. I hate films like this where the people are confined to a single location (or in this case a single train) typically (12 Angry Men being the major exception) and this one is no exception to that. It just feels so small and unusual that is sucks the fun right out of it for me. Finally, the violence is too much. Overly gratuitous violence appeals to a lot of people, but I am not one of those people. I could have lived with some of the entirely sadistic elements of this one being excluded.

As a whole, Snowpiercer is mixed. I would give it a 5, but the cinematography and special effects are too good to ignore and, for me, outweigh Tilda Swinton and the overly graphic elements here.