http://onlyfreshness.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-conjuring.html
Well wouldn't you know it, I was out having a drink with said girl recently and we were talking about the lack of good horror movies that have come out in the past few years. And as we were talking, these hipsters interrupted us and said that we should check out this movie called Snowpiercer. Maybe they thought the movies we were talking about were a bit too main stream, or maybe they just mistook my drunken rambling to be weak game I was spitting to her, so they took pity on me and decided to help me out by giving me a new topic to talk about. For the record, I wasn't hitting on her, I'm not some slimy foreign soccer player! In either case, Snowpiercer is not even remotely close to being a horror film.
What it is however is a brilliant sci-fi flick from Korean director Joon-ho Bong. This is his first attempt at making an almost entirely English speaking film and I have to say that it was a fairly seamless transition for him (you may also have seen his previous films The Host or Mother). This movie is based off of a French graphic novel from the 70's and what you'll find is the themes he wrote about then are still relevant today. The entire film takes place on a train called the Snowpiercer which was was built in response to the world's last ditch effort to stop global warming. The train's designer had a hunch that the element we tried to introduce to the atmosphere would backfire on us, so he built a self sustaining train that would travel the globe continuously while being able to support life for as long as needed. The issue, as it always is with humans, is that no matter where you have a society, a class system will always arise; and in this case there's the clear haves and the clear have-nots. And there happens to be a wide gap between the two as the only middle class that seems to exist, lies in the military or the security teams that are in place to help keep things in order.
Well Curtis (Chris Evans), who is slowly evolving into the lower class's leader, is tired of the cramped and dirty conditions they live in, where they are being mistreated and fed basically the bare minimum to survive. He is devising a plan to get all the way to the front of the train so that he can confront the train's designer to demand that things change. However, in an effort to keep order, the train has a number of security measures in place that they must overcome to achieve this. This doesn't deter Curtis and his followers as they decide to forge ahead as planned and what follows is a bloody and trying quest for freedom.
As you can deduce from my brief description of the plot, the movie's undertone is dripping with both political and social commentary that we rarely see from this region of the world. I'm not saying that the Far East doesn't actually make these films, I'm saying that the only movies of theirs that we are ever exposed to feature subtitles and an expert at a particular fighting style. And when we do get something like Memoirs of a Geisha, it's full of nothing but Chinese actors! Really Hollywood??? Anyway, what's great about this film is that you will experience almost every emotion possible as Curtis and his crew enter each car on their way to the front. Bong will have you pumping your fists with the awesome fight scenes that take place between Curtis' gang and the security team. And just when you think it's turning into your average ho hum fight, he raises the stakes a bit by using the Earth's new climate and the train's surroundings to affect the battles.
Or he will have you crying in horror as Curtis tells you stories of how things were when everyone initially got on the train. And just when things start to get heavy, Bong introduces the amazing Tilda Swinton, who plays the liason' between the train's inventor and the people to help lighten the mood a bit; albeit with some seriously dark humor. My friend best describes the Thom Yorke in drag (Tilda Swinton) as a talented alien that happens to pops up in awesome movies from time to time. And I'll let you experience the weird grade school scene for yourself, but let's just say that some little Hitler youths were being groomed by the junior alien herself, Alison Pill. But that's just the thing with this movie, just when you think you have things figured out, another curve is thrown your way. This movie is a rather scary look into the writer's view of how the government really does control things that we would never think of, or things that we are too scared to even entertain in our minds. And for those of you who only know Chris Evans as Captain America or Johnny Storm, you will see another side of him as he nails the sullen, brooding, and reluctant leader of the revolt. Yes, he's more than just the cool frat guy you want to hang out with.
I enjoyed every second of this film, as the things people said in passing or the items that seemed insignificant at the time, play a rather large role later on in the film. I rate this film as very FRESH and I suggest that you pop in immediately!
***MAJOR SPOILER ALERT***
One issue I did have with the film was Fuyu's plan to escape the train. I loved how he gathered up all of the drugs to basically build a bomb because he thought that the ice was melting, but it's not like he saw any vegetation or signs of edible food outside while he was still on the train. So basically his whole plan was to walk around in the cold and hope? And based off of this, I would've been tempted to let the kids keep running the train from underground. I know that's evil but I would have set up a heavy rotation and given them a little more space to work with. Ok, I couldn't have done that, I would have wrecked the train too but at least I can admit that I would've thought about it for a quick sec.
No comments:
Post a Comment