SNOWPIERCER | BLU RAY REVIEW & GIVEAWAY
SNOWPIERCER is so good! It is a repeat watch Blu Ray with abundant action and I can’t get enough of it. SNOWPIERCER sadly only had a VERY limited release, as you will see below, but this one is coming out on BLU RAY and DVD on November 26th from Roadshow Films and is a MUST see, if you like action movies and you don’t win one, then BUY IT!! You can even buy it HERE. Now re-visit my review and find out how to win a copy below.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE FROM JULY
SNOWPIERCER is hands down the best action film of 2014, it will also easily make my top films of the year and is one of the most underrated and under-marketed films ever. I have no shame in saying it – the film is a freaking masterpiece of dystopian action. It has an epic epic epic cast, mostly all English or American actors you all know and is directed by Korean director, Joon-ho Bong. It is out today, Thur July 24th, on one of the most limited screenings in the country, this is a horrendous injustice, TRANSFORMERS should have been on limited release and this should have released on every screen in the country. It is being released by Roadshow Films, is rated MA15+ and runs for 126mins. I can only find this film screening at DENDY NEWTOWN and CINEMA NOVA in VIC.

REVIEW BY JASON KING
Set in the not too distant future an attempt to reverse global warming goes horribly wrong and commences a world wide ice age. Nearly the entire planet has frozen over and the only survivors live on a giant train that never stops and perpetually travels the rails around the globe. If the train stops the people will freeze. The train has been going for just over 18yrs and life on the train is a nasty social commentary on the class system, just as in this world we live in there is a huge divide between the upper and the lower class. The lower class live in squalor at the rear end of the train and survive on a protein, jelly like food substance (you don’t want to know), while the people at the front live a life of wealth, drugs, sushi and comfort. But the people are fed up with their, (near) lack of existence. Rebellion has come to the people of Snowpiercer.

OK – first things first, what is wrong with the film, there is so little of this I want to get it out of the way. The film lost half a pop because 1) This train is flying – I mean it is going horrendously fast, yet most of the scenes are still, you do not see the movements of the train in the shots. This could possibly be explained by the future and some sort of internal balancer etc. 2) Again the train is moving so incredibly fast and is literally plowing through snow and ice, the entire train defies what we know of physics. 3) The plot is preposterous but to be honest that was why I loved it so much, it was different and new and took us somewhere original.
That’s it – after this I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS FILM.
It is one of the most original and thought provoking science fiction action films I can think of. It never relents and has a cast to die for. On top of this the entire universe they have created for the film is so visually epic it is astounding. Think of an entire universe set in a David Fincher Alien 3 world designed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (City of Lost Children) inspired by Guillermo del Toro and sprinkled with Terry Gilliam influence, picture it, ok – that is what Snowpiercer feels like. Then add the uniqueness of a Korean director, that of the sublime Joon-ho Bong. Bong has five films listed on Rotten Tomatoes, four of them are over 89%. He is best known for the totally amazing film THE HOST. This is his second highest rated film at 94% from 137 reviews – those figures are epic. This is Bong’s first English spoken film and I applaud everything he has done, his social commentary on society and class is quite thought provoking, while totally over the top, it is not far from the truth and it is told bleakly and without much promise for the human race, kind of what I have been thinking for a while now :).

Now, the cast. Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt, Luke Pasqualino (I heart thee), Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer and Ed Harris. That is all I need to say but I will add they are all epic. John Hurt returns to a very “1984” styled film. Evans is impressive, Pasqualino I cannot judge properly because I go all fuzzy but I will say it took me half of his screen time to even recognise him. Belle is superb as always, as is Spencer and Harris but, of course, hands down Tilda Swinton steals every scene in the film with her portrayal of Mason. She is acting perfection and she loves making herself look ugly, she is very similar to her character in ZERO THEOREM but her teeth in this are nearly a character unto themselves. She is a messed up leader oozing evil and selfishness and you will love her for it.

The art direction and cinematography should win awards for this film. Just shut up and give them Oscars NOW. Kyung-Pyo Hong’s cinematography is sublime, everything is filmed in tight spaces and the level of detail in these spaces with huge hand to hand combat scenes and frantic claustrophobic scenes are so well lit and framed it makes this dystopian gritty dirty film a work of art, the visuals are some of the best I have seen. This is perfectly complimented by the art direction from Stefan Novacik, he was art director on THE ILLUSIONIST and also on TV show MISSING.
Now one thing that could be negative for viewers of this film. It is brutal and violent and at times gory. For me it made the film even better, but put it this way, don’t take your grandma to this, or your mum, unless she likes epic action science fiction with a dash of brutal gore and twisted characters.

To me this film borders on perfection but I just can’t give it a perfect five pops as it isn’t without some minor flaws, I loved the film so much.
As I said earlier it is crime this film is not on mass release – this is one film that demands the biggest screen and the loudest sound system – I bow to it.
JK POP SCORE:
KERNEL ANDREW POP SCORE:
With special thanks to ROADSHOW FILMS to win one of the 2X BLU RAYS of SNOWPIERCER you need to either like and share this post on Facebook or retweet/ favourite it on Twitter, you then need to leave a comment below stating the answer to the following question:
What is the best Tilda Swinton movie of all time? My fave would probably be WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN although I love her more quirky rolls in this, GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, MOONRISE KINGDOM etc
If you do not have Facebook and Twitter then get with the times old timer haha – You can still enter, leave your entry below and email me at jking@saltypopcorn.com.au telling me you don’t have social media (you still need to enter on the website).
Prizes will no longer be awarded to first in first served. It will now be a game of skill and selected purely on the thoughts of the judges, said judges being the Salty Kernels.
The prizes will be sent after in the next couple of weeks. Good luck! Oh, and minor housekeeping – huge apologies for overseas readers, this competition is only available to Australian residents.
I went to the very first screening of this today down in Melbourne at 11:45am. It was pretty damn good though just a half star away from brilliance on account of the lack of obeying the laws of physics. I’m kinda nerdy like that when it comes to my science fiction.
If you want to read a pretty detailed but very interesting article on why Snowpiercer isn’t being released wider, this is a great article, it’s got some enlightening stuff in it on the future of movie-marketing –
http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/exclusive-harvey-weinstein-explains-how-snowpiercer-became-a-gamechanger-we-crunch-theater-vs-vod-numbers-20140721
Sounds like a fantastic flick. What a shame it’s only screening at very limited cinemas.
This movie is getting such very limited release here in Aus. I was lucky enough to catch this last December in Indonesia. I am glad I saw it. There’s like a mixture of art and mainstream feel in this. It’s unique and I agree with your review. But not everyone will like it. My aunty and brother who are mainstream moviegoers didn’t enjoy it and they thought it was a bit boring, absurd and confusing at times and not enough action.
This movie has finally got a cinema release near me. I have just seen it and it is amazing. Thank you for your review – I wouldn’t have known about it and I would have missed this great film.
My pleasure Merryl – truly a spectacular film – unfortunatley just a wee bit too dark to be mainstream enough – pity – it needs the big screen 🙂
Grand Budapest Hotel for me
damn I entered my email addy incorrectly this is the correct one
On my iPad I click s instead of a a lot
the lady in the lake
I loved her in Snowpiercer, almost unrecognisable and so darkly comic and faceted. Really want to see this movie again
Pre-dating Supernatural’s ambiguous Angels, I enjoyed Tilda Swinton’s hermafrodite Gabriel in Constantine.
I really enjoyed Tilda’s performance in “Only Lovers Left Alive” as a vampire opposite Tom Hiddleston.
Thanks for a great review. This film looks really interesting and I will look out for it now that it is on DVD. I live in a regional area so it didn’t get a cinematic release here … unfortunately. My favourite Tilda Swinton movie goes to Moonrise Kingdom (second) and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (first). Tilda is positively terrifying as Jadis, the White Witch in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I used to love eating turkish delight before seeing this movie. Now I can’t eat it without thinking of Tilda as the White Witch. Sends shivers up my spine every time!
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I loved her in this.I saw this Snowpiercer Trailer when we saw Transformers and then I did’nt even realise that it had been and gone. Was on my list to see…
I must admit I haven’t seen The Grand Budapest Hotel yet even though everyone raved about it – I just find Wes Anderson movies generally unfunny & leave me cold so i’d have to say Orlando – it brought Tilda to my attention – I found her intriguing and a great actress – she has that rare ability to keep you transfixed to the screen and Orlando showed her great versatility as an actress.
Burn After Reading may be the most hilarious comedy of the 21st century. The Coens departed from emotionally weighty dramas after their phenomenal Oscar glory with No Country For Old Men to deliver something decidedly smaller, going back to their roots of modest comedy of errors that they have perfected with increasingly terrific screenplays since their now classic Raising Arizona managed to make Nicolas Cage endearing. Tilda Swinton is but a small part of a glorious ensemble cast, all of which appear to be having a terrific time, but she makes her role as Malkovich’s ex-wife her bitter own. The film is a non stop barrage of ingenious plotting and well crafted comedic set pieces that grow with hilarity as the film progresses along its perfectly concise 90 minute runtime. It’s a modern classic, particularly notable for Brad Pitt, who steals every scene he occupies with an absolutely gut busting performance as a wonderfully naive and irrepressibly stupid personal trainer.
Tilda Swinton as the nasty white witch in the The Chronicles of Narnia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button starring Brad Pitt is a Tilda Swinton favourite of mine
She was amazing as the White Witch in the Narnia remakes (by far the best thing about those films)… but I LOVED her as Eve in Only Lovers Left Alive. She was so dark, yet so full of life. Slightly terrifying and completely compelling. A beautiful soul, and a very different take on vampirism.
Only Lovers Left Alive. Tilda Swinton imbues her vampiric counterpart with an ethereal wisdom and infectious joie de vivre- a perfect marriage of wisdom and child-like cheekiness.
Oooh look there’s a post by me at the very top! Did you check out that article on marketing and why Snowpiercer didn’t get a wider release? I’d forgotten that in my uber-fan excitement I’d gone to the very first screening of this film in Melbourne. I’ve already seen it again since aswell, as we got it in a double bill with Under The Skin at the Astor which was a fantastic place to get to see it with the almost Imax-sized screen and booming sound. It’s definitely the action film of 2014 by a mile and one I’ll be coming back to time and time again.
But on to your most exciting question !!! This one is possibly even better than the what’s your favourite Michael Winterbottom question a couple of weeks ago and is definitely another candidate for asking what’s your favourite top 10 Tilda Swinton performances or heck you should be just demanding 1000 words essays expounding on the brilliance of Tilda. 2014 alone has been a bumper year for Tilda, I think it’s pretty fair to say I’d ‘turn’ for Eve in Only Lovers Left Alive which is in my top 5 films of the year though perhaps it would be only to get at Adam 🙂 She was the only good thing about The Zero Theorem as Dr Shrink Rom, I wanted her resuscitated as Madame D in The Grand Budapest Hotel and possibly the only flaw with Snowpiercer was that the moment she was gone from it as the fantastic movie creation Mason that the film sort of missed her and more importantly as you point out her teeth !
Have I mentioned I’m Tilda-obsessed? I even have a CD in which she recites Franz Kafka prose over a classical music soundtrack when I need a Tilda injection.
But back to the question, it’s a battle between We Need To Talk About Kevin and Orlando and much and all as I adore WNTTAK and her characters conflicted contempt for children and motherhood I’m going to have to go way back for Orlando a film I only caught in 2001 in a double bill with the excellent Aussie film Proof at the long deceased single-screen cinema The Longford in Melbourne. Based on the Virginia Woolf novel, the androgynous Orlando is the perfect role for Tilda, and who couldn’t but help fall in love with an omnisexual hero/heroine who quips wittily through four centuries of time while remaining ever young?
God you crack me up Andrew – well you better win a copy for that essay!! Nicely done 🙂
We Need TO Talk About Kevin – Tilda struggles to love this strange child, despite the increasingly vicious things he says and does as he grows up. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined. Who knew that Tilda could play Julia Gillard with such conviction 🙂
Michael Clayton. The final confrontation with Michael Clayton left me speechless. That’s one hell of a movie, and Tilda Swinton is on the top of her game here.
Winners are grinners and our grinners are………………drumroll…………….
Andrew – for his essay and because we appear to share the Tilda obsession 🙂
Judith Maunders
Gratz peeps and thanks to all who entered – more to come 🙂
Many thanks!
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