Snowpiercer

Season 1 review. Will update if needed after season 2.

Not too bad of a show, but has some issues that really drag it down.

Acting is a very mixed bag. Jennifer Connelly does a good job as Melanie Cavill and I also enjoyed some of the supporting roles like Ruth and Miss Audrey, even though most of those supporting roles don't add a whole lot of meat to the story and often feel like underdeveloped, missed opportunities.

While not always or necessarily a bad thing, a lot of characters are one-dimensional caricatures, perhaps more fitting for a cartoon. This works well for some, like Ruth, but not too great for most, like LJ.

There's way too much overacting in general, where the performances of the actresses playing Josie and Bess stand out as pretty bad on average in that regard.

The biggest issue with the acting though, is the lead actor, Daveed Diggs. The guy can't act and he has no presence. His eyes are always empty and he is apparently only able to produce one facial expression. His monotonous voice and inflection also don't match the character. I always see the actor trying to play a character, never the character itself. It really breaks immersion. Massive miscast here and easily the weakest link of the show.

Immersion is broken even more by the fact that his character is all over the place and isn't believable at all in most of the contexts he finds himself in. This isn't a revolutionary leader, but a street corner criminal at best.

He's not even likeable, being that self-righteous smart ass know-it-all (while still failing to accomplish anything), with his unfitting nonchalant demeanor and hilariously large wig.

CGI is mostly well done. Music is good, and I do like the overall atmosphere it tries to create.

The general story is interesting enough to keep me wanting to know what's going to happen next. The first three or so episodes don't make a whole lot of sense in hindsight and I feel the story is a bit too shallow in most of what it tries to accomplish.

This could have been an easy 8 or 9 if the casting and acting would have been better, possibly also while burning through the story a bit slower and not focussing on the rather unoriginal and obvious stuff.

I can't really give this more than barely a 6/10 in it's current form, even though I enjoyed some parts more than that rating would suggest. Will update the score after season 2, if needed.

Whoever made the decision to film season 4 with an abundance of close-ups, hand held cameras, and what looks like cell phones in the season 4 opener, really should be forced to sit on an anthill. That's what watching this show is like. The jump cuts, shaky camera work, jeez, what are they thinking. Let me guess, some "creative thinker" thought, lets give the show a claustrophobic feel with tight shots. This is what happens when someone surrounds themselves with sycophants who tell them they're geniuses. Or it's the fall back on the back of for a show that is not very interesting and is reaching for something it has lost and can't get back. It's the cinematic equivalent of jumping the shark. It reeks of desperation. This shows camera work is physically painful to watch..

For those stating that the premise of a train wrapping around the globe that has to keep running is too unrealistic - that is correct. Though it's a great metaphor for how our class based elitist society is part of a never ending circle that, given the right circumstances , could entirely collapse at any moment.

So no, train like this isn't possible. But that's not the point. Watch the story unfold and if need be pay attention to everything else and let the train part fall to the background. Either way, it's an interesting story and the acting is well done. The scenery is amazingly well thought out , and for a pilot episode they did decent job knocking it out of the park.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the film- but I'm quite interested to see how they do with this. So far, so good.

WARNING - you do need an imagination to watch this show. So if you take everything too literally you won't enjoy it.

The only unbearable part of this show is daveed Diggs- he doesn't sell the part very well at all. The show would be much better without him as a centrepiece: it's a shame they couldn't find Idris or someone a bit more captivating in their acting - Diggs is lacklustre at best and he's outshined by every other character , even the background ones.

People are weird. Sometime really ridiculous TV series and movies gets very good reviews and sometime decent series gets bad. This TV series is the example of later. It's not an Emmy winning series but nevertheless quite interesting to watch. The actors are doing good job and the plot has some life to it. I am not sure, how come some science fiction movies and TV series, like Star Wars, gets high ratings, despite being quite away from reality but some get judged based on scientific laws.

It's not bad. I gave a 7 with the potential for higher numbers as this progresses. Not sure why others gave such harsh reviews and low numbers. Geeesh give a new show a chance! I never saw the movie, so I have no comparison to offer. For a first episode I'm intrigued enough to want to see more. Isn't that what most want from a pilot episode? Plenty of characters and potential for expanding storylines. The hour went by very quickly and previewed the upcoming season at the end of the episode. If you liked the Hunger Games this seems to be a similar vibe, although more gritty.