Chris Evans Shines In This Great, Unique Korean Sci-Fi Action Film: Our Review of "Snowpiercer" (2014)

Directed By: Joon-ho Bong (The Host) 

Starring: Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Kang-ho Song, Octavia Spencer, Ed Harris

Rating: R for violence, language and drug content

Run Time: 2 hours, 6 minutes

Synopsis: After a failed attempt to solve global-warming causes the whole plane to freeze in a matter of minutes, the surviving remnants of mankind all live aboard a futuristic train where a class system has evolved between the rich front cars and poor rear cars. A man named Curtis (Evans) has decided the time has come to lead a revolt against the front of the train, with a goal of getting further than any other previous revolt and taking control of the engine...or die trying.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello dear readers! Sarah and I were able to catch two films during this past 4th of July weekend, one of which was the long-awaited Korean sci-fi/action film Snowpiercer starring Chris Evans (Captain America: The Winter Soldier).

Snowpiercer is based on a French graphic novel called "Le Transperceneige" by Jacque Lob, and focuses on a post-apocalyptic scenario where mankind has inadvertently caused another ice age when they tried to fix global warming, and the only surviving humans all live on a gigantic train called Snowpiercer. The train circumnavigates the globe in a never-ending loop that takes one year to circle the whole globe. 

The populace of the train is separated into different classes - the rich, one-percenters live in the opulent front cars (as they actually had paid for their passage) while the poor, ninety-nine-percenters live in the destitute rear cars under the oppression of the front cars and the mysterious Wilford, who created the train.

Chris Evans plays Curtis, one of the many who forced their way onto the train to barely escape freezing to death, who has spent 17 years living in the back of the train, and he's had enough of it. Along with his younger sidekick, Edgar (Jamie Bell), and under the tutelage of an older man named Gilliam (John Hurt), Curtis leads a rebellion in an attempt to take over the train's engine to free his people from the back of the train. It's all actually pretty straightforward and well-spelled out in the film.

Sarah, this was one that I know I was personally looking forward to as I had heard nothing but universal acclaim for it. Plus the trailer just looked awesome. So tell me, what were your thoughts going in to Snowpiercer and what do you think now that we've seen it?

Cruise and Blunt Shine in Refreshing Alien Invasion Flick: Our Review of "Edge of Tomorrow" (2014)

Directed By: Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) 

Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson

Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, language and brief suggestive material

Run Time: 1 hour, 53 minutes

Synopsis: See below in the opening paragraphs

REVIEW

A: Hello dear readers! Sarah and I caught three films this past weekend, one of which was the teenage romance film The Fault in Our Stars (you can read our review of that HERE) on Friday night, and the second one of those was the new Tom Cruise sci-fi/action film Edge of Tomorrow. This is one I had been hearing great things about in the weeks leading up to its release, so suffice it to say I was excited to see this one. Before we get to the review, though, I feel like I need to explain the concept of the film just a bit.

Based on a 2004 Japanese novel called "All You Need is Kill," Edge of Tomorrow stars Cruise as Major William Cage, the head PR guy for a worldwide military called the United Defense Force that's fighting an invasion from a destructive alien race dubbed "Mimics." The UDF is losing the war by a large margin, with Europe almost completely invaded by the Mimics, and only having won one battle - the Battle of Verdun - thanks to the heroics of a soldier named Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada).

After refusing to be embedded with a troop on the front lines of a planned beach invasion called Operation Downfall, Cage is stripped of rank and sent to basic training the day before the invasion by General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). There, Cage is thrust into the front lines of the invasion and promptly killed in action by an "alpha" Mimic.....then somehow wakes up again back at basic training the day before the invasion.

Despite attempts to tell everyone something strange is going on and that the impending invasion is doomed from the start, Cage keeps reliving the same two days over again. He finally approaches Vrataski after seeing her on the battlefield and discovers she, too, has experienced the same phenomenon thanks to her blood getting mixed with an alpha Mimic's blood and thereby gaining their power to manipulate time, which is how the Mimics have been winning the war so far, and how she was able to win the Battle of Verdun. From there they team up to learn how they can win Operation Downfall and, more importantly, the war.

Whew! That's a lot of words! And one of the more impressive parts about the film is that it's all summed up and explained very well in the first act better than I did just now. So Sarah, now that we've seen the film and I've done my best to set up the concept of the film, what did you think of Edge of Tomorrow?