Review of Snowpiercer (2013) by Ben L — 21 Oct 2015

This was the Bong Joon-Ho film I was most excited about watching. It seemed to be right up my alley, thanks to a mix of action and sci-fi in a dystopian future. Sure enough, it was a high quality story that did its best to be an allegory for our modern society.

Throughout the length of the film they do a stellar job of explaining the history of this world, and how it works, which was made even more effective by the great cast. I'm starting to think that Chris Evans is one of my favorite modern actors, and this movie proves that he can do more than his typical Captain America routine.

Tilda Swinton is absolutely transformed to the point of being almost unrecognizable, and her portrayal of a character who is both blood-thirsty and a coward is priceless. I think where I struggled with the movie, was the strange tone shifts as they traveled through the train.

At times there was a lot of confrontation slowing down their progress forward through the train, and other times it seemed like they could just waltz right on through. It didn't seem to fit and I was always trying to figure out "Is this scene supposed to be funny?" The other issue I had was (trying to avoid spoilers here) Curtis's final choice didn't seem to have enough balance to make it an actual struggle to decide.

I enjoyed the film and I can see why some people really loved it, but it won't be one I need to own.