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"Snowpiercer (2013) directed by Bong Joon Ho starts off terribly but ends up more than salvaging itself by the end. I hate to admit it but it turned out pretty great.

Earth has been covered in ice and snow and is too cold for anything alive to survive in. The remaining surviving humans all live on a train which runs the same global lengthed circular track nonstop. Curtis (Chris Evans) lives in the tail end of the train, which is the poorest part. Curtis starts a revolution to fight their way to the front of the train where the conductor and creator of the train Wilford (Ed Harris) lives comfortably.

Snowpiercer starts off wildly bad because it is nearly impossible to suspend your disbelief. Why are they living on a train? How does the train run without servicing or re-fueling since it never stops? How does the train survive being hit by ice and glaciers constantly? How does the train defy gravity and not get derailed? These are just a few of the many questions you will be asking which there are no answers for (in the first half). The second half of the film completely redeems everything and explains nearly every glaring question or problem there is, but there is no denying how atrocious the beginning of this film is. To give you an idea of how drastic the change in quality is, I was at a 3/10 for my score by the end of the first half, and now I am at a 7/10 after learning everything and getting some answers.

The film features awesome action with great sets considering how claustrophobic the location is. I thought the unnecessarily luxurious cars were very cool and I especially appreciated the aquarium since it explained where that random fish came from earlier and it also serves as a parallel to the train itself: a contained ecosystem which must be monitored carefully to maintain balance and order. While we don't receive very much characterization here, Chris Evans is undoubtedly a likeable individual so I was definitely rooting for him in this, and he also provides a surprising amount of raw emotion in this. I appreciated the R rating on the film and the deep dives into some taboo topics which we rarely see on screen like cannibalism.

Snowpiercer starts off atrociously bad but eventually gets on it's feet and delivers a pretty great time. If I were to rewatch this one I would be a lot less annoyed since I would know to have some confidence in it for later.

Video by Rainy Nights.

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