I am a very predictable and totally random person. Every day I dutifully follow my routine of taking care of my family by cooking , cleaning , all the necessary things, while at the same time having very little idea of what else I will find myself doing that day . I rarely make lists and I often alter my plans at the drop of a hat . My blog is proof. This is probably also the reason I can’t seem to make any money off any venture that I attempt, but that is another story!

This randomness is how I ended up watching the movie Snowpiercer yesterday in the middle of the day. Last week my son simply mentioned the movie Parasite to me and the next thing you know I am buying a DVD of Snowpiercer off Ebay.

Snowpiercer is by the director of Parasite, Bong Joon-ho. Parasite was the first non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It left an impact on me so when my son mentioned it I had to see what other movies he had made. Snowpiercer looked like it might be worth watching, but it wasn’t on Netflix so I decided to buy it for around $6.

The mailman brought my DVD on Tuesday, but it was raining and I didn’t walk out to the mailbox until that night when I happened to check the shipping status and it told me that I had a good mail day. That is one thing I love about today’s mail. How did we survive in the dark ages of not knowing exactly where our package was located and when it arrived?

So Wednesday morning I had to DO SOMETHING that was SCHEDULED, UGH! But I was a big girl and got my van aligned like the other adults of the world. Then I went to Walmart and paid for my daughter’s prescription that should have been free but wasn’t because they didn’t have the proper brand available, and bought myself some sweet and salty popcorn as a treat. I also bought two cans of shaving cream because the shelf was almost empty and I NEED shaving cream. We wear shorts nearly year round in these parts, ya know.

Anyway, back to the movie. I asked my son who had mentioned Parasite if he wanted to watch it with me and he actually said yes, which is great because he usually says no. He had to go to work in two hours. (We actually had to stop the movie with two minutes left and leave to take him to work. ) So we settled in for a wild train ride of death and insanity.

Snowpiercer is a story of the last surviving humans who live on a train that has been going round and round for 17 years thanks to a perpetual motion engine. The world outside the train is frozen due to human error. But don’t ask how the tracks don’t freeze because they don’t mention that part.

The premise of the movie that you will see in the trailer is that the people in the train live in a class system with those in the back barely surviving and those in the front living in luxury. The people in the back are tired of this and they try to rebel from time to time, but so far they have been unsuccessful.

Now they have a determined new leader, Curtis, played by Chris Evans, who is going to try to make it to the front. They never actually say what the ultimate plan is for when he gets up there, but I guess he thinks he can get better conditions for the people in the back. Curtis is mentored by Gilliam, played by the late great actor John Hurt.

The journey to the front is long and bloody with lots of long fighting scenes reminiscent of John Wick. As they move towards the front they are shocked to see ‘how the other half lives’ in decadent luxury while they have been starving and filthy in the back. The front not only considers them to be like rats, they come from time to time to take their children and never return them, and they punish them severely if they try to fight back.

We learn more about Curtis and his past during the battle to the front. He is not just fighting for freedom, he is fighting his own demons. Curtis has some help along the way from a few other heroes willing to die for the cause including Octavia Spencer, from The Help and many other movies, and Tilda Swinton who played the White Witch in the Chronicles of Narnia.

Spoiler Alert: Curtis makes it to the front where he encounters the train’s mad conductor who is considered divine, Mr. Wilford, played by Ed Harris, star of Westworld and many other movies and TV shows. Mr. Wilford, an OCD psychopath/genius designed the train and I can’t help but think maybe he caused the ice age, but they don’t really say. Curtis learns some unexpected and upsetting things about the train and it’s history.

The movies focuses on the injustice of class inequality, the way people justify it to themselves, and the difficulty of doing anything to change it. I won’t give away the ending.

If you’ve seen Parasite, don’t expect this movie to be just like it. Parasite is a definite step up from this production, but there are plenty of good actors in this one and if you like fight scenes and surprises, you’ll like Snowpiercer.

Review: Snowpiercer is a dark and depressing movie, probably not the best viewing for 2022, hahaha!

Have you seen Snowpiercer or Parasite? Do you want to watch it now after reading this? Are you random or planned? Do you suddenly buy things you had no previous knowledge even existed? Do you get your car maintenance on schedule? Have you ever paid for a prescription that should have been free rather than wait for them to order the other brand? Anything else you’d like to chat about? Put it in the comments below! Have a great day! (I have to go to an appointment which I have been dreading for two weeks because I hate appointments.)