"Snowpiercer" and "Edge of Tomorrow"

I saw two movies yesterday, “Snowpiercer” and “Edge of Tomorrow” which I snuck into after the first movie was over. This was at the AMC 25 on 42nd Street, so named because it has 25 theaters on four levels. Once you get in for your movie, you’re free to ride the escalators up and down checking out the other floors and theaters. After “Snowpiercer” let out, I hit the men’s room, then looked for another interesting movie I could quietly slip into. The cleaning crew waited outside the “Snowpiercer” theater while the credits played and I didn’t want them to see me sneak into a nearby theater, so I turned into the lobby and ducked into theater 25 without looking to see what was playing or when it started. Turns out I walked in just as the trailers were showing, talk about great timing! And the movie ended up being “Edge of Tomorrow,” the new Tom Cruise Sci-Fi movie.

First, “Snowpiercer.” “Snowpiercer” is a South Korean movie (in English so it’s a joint production) set in a world frozen over after a chemical was dumped into the atmosphere to stop global warming (don’t you hate it when that happens?). The few remaining people travel the globe non-stop in a train separated by class into the rear (the wretched) and the front (the privileged). It’s a stupid idea and I’d normally give it a pass, but it got a good review on the Ebert site so I thought I’d check it out. Very silly. Fun and entertaining, but beyond preposterous. You really have to give up and just go with this one if you want to get anything out of it. Fortunately, it ends up being a fun watch. It somehow managed to get a fantastic cast with Chris Evans (Captain America), Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, and Ed Harris. There are good action sequences in the confined spaces of the train, and I give the movie marks for originality. It’s goofy and ridiculous and an enjoyable, over-the-top two hours.

“Edge of Tomorrow” was pretty good. Being a Tom Cruise movie, it’s made well with convincing special effects, a tight, fast-paced story, and solid performances. Cruise is surprisingly good in this one. He rarely gives performances of much depth, but here he plays a character who struggles and grows as he accepts his fate and rises above it. The story is about how the Cruise character Major William Cage is forced to fight on the front lines as a Private against aliens who invaded the earth some time earlier. On his first mission he’s killed by an alien who oozes some kind of acid all over him, and suddenly Cage wakes up and it’s the day before all over again. He keeps getting killed and coming back, and during the movie you find out why this is happening. I love time-travel movies and this is a good one. I don’t think the movie is the blockbuster the studio was probably hoping for (IMDb has it earning 90 million after four weeks with a budget of 178 million) and that’s too bad because it deserves to do better. It’s entertaining, action-packed, and smart. Of all the movies to wander into, I picked a good one.

So not a bad day at the movies. I’d taken Friday off from work because I had some friends over Thursday night and didn’t want to worry about going in if I stayed up too late. Our cleaning lady came that afternoon so to stay out of her way, I went to the movies. There’s something deliciously decadent about taking a day off from work and going to the movies.

So I’d give “Snowpiercer” 2.5 out of four stars because I think it accomplishes what it sets out to be and it is fun, and I’d give “Edge of Tomorrow” 3.5 out of four.