Snowpiercer: Thatcher on a train

[Urinal Cake]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6UmqNuMdY4

Movie is in English but the trailer is in Korean

The film is set in a future where, after a failed experiment to stop global warming, an ice age has killed off nearly all life on the planet. The only survivors are the inhabitants of the 'Snowpiercer', a massive train that travels around the planet and is powered by a perpetual-motion engine. Over time a class system evolves on the train, with the elites inhabiting the 'front' of the train and poor inhabiting the 'back' of the train. Tired of the poor conditions suffered by riders in the 'back', a revolution occurs with the riders attempting to seize control of the engine which the elites in the 'front' consider 'sacred'.

Bong Joon-ho!

[Bad Ambassador]

High Rise on its side, then.

[Bored of Canada]

Saw this at the cinema just before. It's just so confidently fun and unique. Basically the film version of Bioshock by way of a train robbery movie, where every carriage progressed is a new unique set piece. Just feels so fresh and fun, but can be dark and serious, and juggles the tone well. The violence is brutal and savage, it makes you flinch despite not actually seeing anything.

And all the characters are quite likable. Except the fake Irishmen. His accent was too all over the place and I just couldn't warm to him.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

This looks fun.

As long as the result of the revolution isn't that the train crashes and everyone dies proving once and for all that the elites should be in charge and know what they're doing.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

High Rise on its side, then.

Or a more exaggerated version of an actual train.

[Van Dammage]

I just want to see Kang Ho Song.

[Bored of Canada]

I just want to see Kang Ho Song.

He's good in it.

Tilda Swinton too. Steals the show.

[kidsick5000]

Very Gilliam

[Sam]

Very Gilliam

Isn't one of the characters in the film called Gilliam?

Or a more exaggerated version of an actual train.

:)

Are we stil getting the Weinstein botch in the UK or do we get the proper film?

[Urinal Cake]

Watching this next week. Give me my arthouse action movie.

[surreal]

Are we stil getting the Weinstein botch in the UK or do we get the proper film?

It'll be the full version - Weinstein caved in and released the full cut in the US too.  I've had this on Blu-Ray for a couple of months as I bought the French release from Amazon.fr, all in English once you switch off the French subs.  Only thing I missed was a little bit in Korean near the end which is not English subbed on that version for obvious reasons - not sure what it was but with my luck it was probably pivotal to correct interpretation of the themes of the movie and now I'll never understand it...

Anyway, enjoyed it a lot, great cast and some great performances - I kept thinking Chris Evans was Christian Bale for some reason though - it's a good movie but not the be-all-end-all of dystopian sci-fi that it's been made out to be.

[kittens]

i did not like this film; i thought it was bad.

[maett]

I concur, was not impressed and I really like Bong Joon ho. The young Korean girl is superb though for what she was given.

[Urinal Cake]

I thought this was pretty good. What is gets right are as BoC says is the set pieces, enough confounding of expectations and surprisingly the humour- the sort of which Bay tries and fails at. The flaws are that some bits are ott corny and that Evans doesn't have the dramatic acting chops for the final revelation that makes what he says at the end sound ridiculous and even funny. An action film for pseuds. Highly recommended.

[zomgmouse]

For a blockbuster, this was fantastic. Not your usual themes (simplistic though they were) and despite a not-very-good ending, I enjoyed it. Enough action and thrillingness to keep itself afloat for the entirety of its duration.

[Noodle Lizard]

Just seen this.  God, that ending just BLOWS.  What a shame, it was pretty good otherwise.

[SteveDave]

Was that Chris Evans?[nb]not that one[/nb] I thought it was Jason Patric. Well...

[wooders1978]

Liked it generally - ending was open to interpretation but I had a feeling it wasn't very optimistic

[Moribunderast]

Just seen this.  God, that ending just BLOWS.  What a shame, it was pretty good otherwise.

I dunno, the

Spoiler alert

cannibalism story and the Train Powered By Sad Children

[close]

were two of the funniest moments I've seen in film this year.

I thought the film was decent, some nice little sequences and flourishes. The main dude was wooden and boring as balls and really dragged it down, sadly. Tilda was great. I'm glad it seems to have done pretty well critically and at the Box Office, as Joon-ho Bong is a fantastic director and deserves acclaim and opportunities.

[Noodle Lizard]

Joon-ho Bong is a fantastic director and deserves acclaim and opportunities.

He also has a funny name, which I feel is important.  I wish Neil Burger wasn't quite as shite for similar reasons.

[imitationleather]

Funnily enough I watched this the other day. I thought it was proper eye-candy and wished I'd seen it at the cinema because I but it looked wicked on a big screen.

Can't remember the plot or how it ends or anything. Just remember it looks good.

[Small Man Big Horse]

This looks fun.

As long as the result of the revolution isn't that the train crashes and everyone dies proving once and for all that the elites should be in charge and know what they're doing.

That was surprisingly close! Well, sort of, it's more of an "All of humanity are horrible, so it's no bad thing nearly everyone dies" situation, but you weren't far off.

I was bemused by the ending, presumably she now has to wait about ten years for the kid to be old enough to fuck, and then start repopulating the human race. I'm not convinced it will end well.

Still, other than that I enjoyed it a lot (though kept on thinking Evans was Christian Bale throughout, too), as others have mentioned the set pieces are inventive and fun, Swinton was superb, and though it was a bit obvious the War Doctor was going to turn out to be a bad 'un, I enjoyed seeing him in it. It's easy to pick apart at times, and the using of the kids to work as part of the engine was a bit too silly, as up until then Harris had made for a fairly realistic and not OTT villain, but I've no major complaints and I'm glad I've seen it.

[kidsick5000]

though it was a bit obvious the War Doctor was going to turn out to be a bad 'un,

He was an interesting character. A devotee to segregation. He didn't have a luxury retreat and lived in the same squalor as everyone else.

I don't know if the train would have been more believable if it had been longer/bigger.
And frankly, if he was only keeping the back dwellers as breeding stock it would be so much easier to keep them down with narcotics