I do not own the above image. Copyright The Weinstein Company. All Rights Reserved.
I sit here, 6 days from the American
opening of THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON.
Some of you who live overseas have already seen it and have thrown your
two cents into the ring. I also sit here
less than 24 hours before my wife & I see EX MACHINA, a small science
fiction film that has finally entered my neck of the woods after weeks of
praise from those I admire, respect & follow for their knowledge of film.
Most of the time, I take their (or
your, if you are one of those people described above) advice when something
comes along, sometimes under the radar, that blows your mind that you can’t
stop talking about. A review is
sometimes not enough. You take to
Twitter to argue over every single element of said movie, all the while begging
the general movie going public to see it instead of junk like 50 SHADES OF
GREY. But what happens when one of your
own (and I use that term very, very loosely) sees one of these movies and just
shrugs his shoulders at the supposed greatness.
SNOWPIERCER is the English-language
debut of acclaimed South Korean director Bong Joon-ho, whose previous films
have been completely overlooked by my eyes.
SNOWPIERCER follows the oppressed passengers of the titular train
circumnavigating the globe after a failed attempt to stop global climate change
turned Earth into a giant ball of ice.
One such passenger Curtis (Evans) leads a mutiny on the train that has
been planned for some time. Can they
reach the front and stop the class war?
Ultimately, I grew frustrated really
quickly because the movie is nothing more than the hype surrounding it. I’m not saying the movie is terrible or
anything like that. But where the movie
loses me is the action/chase second act.
The entire middle hour of SNOWPIERCER is action scene upon action
scene. Each is unique and never
duplicated. They are shot decent enough
but what purpose do they serve in the end?
But where the hype destroyed the
desired effect is in the social commentary.
Every single moment where someone isn’t getting stabbed there are
elements of Atlas Shrugged all over the place.
I mean, they’re even on a freaking train. And Tilda Swinton, let’s be honest, PLAYS AYN
F*CKING RAND! The look, the mannerisms,
the condescending attitude. We get it. She is the devil incarnate!
(SPOILER
ALERT)
But worst of all, she doesn’t meet
her end appropriately. Ayn…I mean,
Mason, meets her maker in the middle of the movie. Yeah, just shot in the head after one of the
many action sequences. The villain from
that point forward is just one of her unnamed minions with a gun. Instead, our hero (yes, hero, singular) gets
into a mano-a-mano with John Galt. Fine,
he’s the conductor/owner of the train Wilford.
It is Wilford (and Wilford alone) who delivers the third act stinger. Sure, the mysterious Wilford was hyped as
this God among men. But for a majority
of the movie, Curtis had this main villain to chase after then have her (him?)
as a hostage. The movie misses a perfect
opportunity to have “Ayn Rand”, “John Galt” and our hero have one profound
discussion in the front of the train about the past, present & future of
the journey the human race is taking. And
I guess there’s my problem with the entire movie: the missed opportunities to
expand on the social commentary and the emotional payoffs. Curtis’ emotional monologue at the beginning
of the third act doesn’t have the desired effect when so much time & action
has occurred since the characters were killed off in one of the many action
scenes.
(END
SPOILER ALERT)
On the surface, SNOWPIERCER is
somewhat exciting at times & exquisitely shot. Each action sequence is unique in its design
& style. The performances are top
notch, especially Swinton, but that’s nothing out of the ordinary, she’s great
in everything. The entire story is set
up almost perfectly. It’s the execution
that’s the problem. I liked what I
watched while watching, I just hated thinking about it after.
Hype can lead a film to the promised
land: the general movie-going public’s mind.
Whether it be in a theatre at a multiplex or in their own home, every
great movie needs to be seen & available to everyone. But hype has its downsides. You just read one. Sometimes, a movie, if not seen right away,
can be destroyed by the hype machine, whether it be critically or commercially. Film is fragile. Film is special. Let us not attach too much to a movie, lest
it be too much for us to handle. And
that is why I don’t watch trailers or read reviews before seeing movies: Hype
kills movies.
***1/2
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