What a present surprise... this is essentially a B-science fiction movie, but it believes in its own absurd premise and actually concludes in a manner that is more about ideas than action or cheap gimmicks. The film is has a somewhat cheesy-sounding premise but winds up saying a great deal more about the human condition than almost any science fiction movie I've seen in the last few years. This is not a comic book thing!
Warning: if you do find this film, it is very violent, very raw. But I highly recommend it. No, I am not suggesting it should win any Oscars, but it has the courage of its own convictions. The special effects are good but never the center of the show and they are certainly not great.. they serve the story and feel of a piece with the acting and directing style of the B-movie that this is. But the film grew more and more interesting as it went along, as it takes the time to actually probe its ideas.
The premise is that, in the near future, humanity's attempts to fight global warming have had the opposite effect: there is an ice age and the planet is now uninhabitable. The survivors that are left are all on board a perpetual-motion train that is travelling the world. This premise sounds absurd, but the screen-writers have done wonders with making it almost believable; just when you think you can't swallow the absurd notion of this train, they give you a detail that makes it make a bit more sense.
More important than whether or not the premise, as a whole, is more believable than what kind of story we get from it, and the story here is so damn intriguing. Human nature, the nature of society, and the drive to survive are just the beginnings of what's discussed in this film.
Evans is great here. He's very good as Captain America, but here, he is fantastic as a man in the back of the train who decides to rebel and make his way up to the front to gain control. There's a lot more to it than that I won't spoil.
Don't even watch the trailer. Go in cold. Trust me.
I can't believe how much I liked it. While the film never forgot it was a B-movie, the people involved were also committed to the tough messages that come out of a concept like this: I wound up thinking about this film and its implications for the last few days.
That's all you can ask for with a science fiction film.
Warning: if you do find this film, it is very violent, very raw. But I highly recommend it. No, I am not suggesting it should win any Oscars, but it has the courage of its own convictions. The special effects are good but never the center of the show and they are certainly not great.. they serve the story and feel of a piece with the acting and directing style of the B-movie that this is. But the film grew more and more interesting as it went along, as it takes the time to actually probe its ideas.
The premise is that, in the near future, humanity's attempts to fight global warming have had the opposite effect: there is an ice age and the planet is now uninhabitable. The survivors that are left are all on board a perpetual-motion train that is travelling the world. This premise sounds absurd, but the screen-writers have done wonders with making it almost believable; just when you think you can't swallow the absurd notion of this train, they give you a detail that makes it make a bit more sense.
More important than whether or not the premise, as a whole, is more believable than what kind of story we get from it, and the story here is so damn intriguing. Human nature, the nature of society, and the drive to survive are just the beginnings of what's discussed in this film.
Evans is great here. He's very good as Captain America, but here, he is fantastic as a man in the back of the train who decides to rebel and make his way up to the front to gain control. There's a lot more to it than that I won't spoil.
Don't even watch the trailer. Go in cold. Trust me.
I can't believe how much I liked it. While the film never forgot it was a B-movie, the people involved were also committed to the tough messages that come out of a concept like this: I wound up thinking about this film and its implications for the last few days.
That's all you can ask for with a science fiction film.
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