Awww, does Captain America needs a hug?
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“Snowpiercer” is the story of a near future where a failed global warming experiment has frozen the earth. The only survivors now exist on a constantly moving train called the “Snowpiercer” that travels the globe. Cap himself, Chris Evans, stars as a passenger from the downtrodden tail section who are ready to revolt against their oppression. The movie also stars Octavia Spencer, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt, and Ed Harris, and is helmed by South Korean director Joon-ho Bong, the same man who brought us the incredible movie “The Host” 7 years ago. A movie that showed that sci-fi fantasy could still be wrought with real emotion and characters. And he continues that sense for human drama in a sci-fi world in a big way here.
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Snowpiercer is a great ride. It’s obvious that Bong has a keen sense of drama and story and I love that he finds a way to make these stories so human inside a world that is like nothing we know. Now, I don’t want to give too much away, because so much of the journey of the film is the discovery of this universe, but sufficed to say it is a clever, well thought out, and compelling trek. And so much of this is in the details. Whereas many directors paint sci-fi with broad strokes leaving our minds to fill in the rest, Bong seems to revel in painting all the detail, fleshing out his sci-fi world with depth and completeness, which I think overall makes for a more engaging experience, and I’d even say is the best thing. Plus the acting is great in this. Evans, Swinton, Spencer, and Hurt are wonderful and Ed Harris once again proves he needs to be working more. The other thing that makes the movie work for me so well is the way the puzzle is discovered and solved. Again, I’m trying to step lightly here, but this is a journey that feels very much like a puzzle based video game, where each level brings a new twist. It gives the movie a very distinct forward momentum, and keeps our minds engaged at each turn. It’s kind of like “Candy Crush” meets “The Raid” with the satisfaction of level progression mixed with the overwhelming me-lee of graphic violence along the way. Which aside from being the strangest metaphor I’ve ever used, also brings up something I haven’t touched on yet, this is violent movie. Now, I never felt the violence got in the way of the story telling, but if you’re squeamish about that sort of thing, don’t board this train.
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So any negatives? Well, not many. There does seem to be a bit of a case of the twists in the movie. With maybe a few too many “gotcha” moments. And the movie does tend to feel a bit over the top at times. In fact, let’s call that heightened insanity the worst thing. When you really think about it, it just doesn’t feel like these people and this space could only be separated from us by 20 years. But who am I to say what a global near extinction would do to us as a species, so I guess I can suspend disbelief and go with it without overthinking it too much.
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Overall, “Snowpiercer” is another tour de force for Joon-ho Bong. A great cast and a mentally engaging story are enough to offset any overreaching on the part of the plot. I say it stays mostly on track with an A-
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Thanks for checking out this Your Movie Friend review, stay tuned for this review’s “Best Ever” challenge here in bit but first, I’m going to put up some stuff you can click over in this area. If you’d like to subscribe, which I would much appreciate, you can do so by clicking the big gray subscribe button. Want to see more? Well Good news! There are four other movies out this week! I’ve got reviews over here for “Tammy”, “Deliver Us From Evil”, “Earth to Echo, and “America: Imagine a World Without Her””. You can also Click the logo up here to go to the all new yourmoviefriend.com where you can find a searchable database of reviews as well as the written text of these videos. And finally this review’s “Best Ever” Challenge, where you name the best movie ever in a particular category and also try to identify my choice. What is the “the best movie set in an icy, snowy environment ever”. To count, I’d say at least 75% of the movie has to be in ice or snow, so just scratch Hoth from you mind. I’m going with the one that was recently remade into a TV show. Drop your own answer and a guess at mine in the comments and first person to guess mine gets a point! Thanks and please subscribe!