Post by Rob W. Case on Mar 18, 2018 21:32:21 GMT -6
The Story:
The premise of this movie is very simple. On August 15th, 2015, while on a train from Amsterdam to Paris, three young Americans vacationing through Europe band together and engage a terrorist in the process of conducting an attack. The rest of the movie pretty much covers a little bit of the background of the three men’s lives leading up to and beyond their thwarting the terrorist attack.
My Take:
Director Clint Eastwood starts this movie similar to what he did with American Sniper. He starts the movie off using the buildup of a climactic moment to then flashback to where it all began. Unlike American Sniper, the details regarding the three friends seem to be, in my opinion, uneventful and dull. For example, we see the boys getting in trouble in public school, then they get sent to a Christian school and are getting in trouble there. Then they grow up together, and try to do what they have their hearts set on doing, and the camera follows them around as they try to do those things, and among their journey there are some good times and some bad times, some delights and some disappointments. Sound intriguing? After a while, you realize that it feels as though you are watching a vacation video of the three friends going to Europe. And then comes the best part; the implementation of the terrorist attack and the efforts to thwart the terrorist on the train. The brawl that occurs on the train is pretty intense and suspenseful, making the re-enactment very well done. The film’s main staple is that the three young men who actually were involved in thwarting the terrorist attack (Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler, and Spencer Stone) all played themselves. While it is rare for a movie based on people to actually be played by those people, one of the problems with that I found is that in many instances, their conversations came off as staged and unnatural. After all, this is their first film without any prior acting experience. And yet, if you really wanted to get more out of this movie than what was there you have to analyze it with a sort of “high powered magnifying glass”.
Out of 4 stars, I would have to give “The 15:17 to Paris” 1 and a half.
The film is rated PG-13 and runs 1 hour and 34 minutes.
To view a trailer for the film, please click on the “Play” button below.
The movie is still running in some select theaters, check your local theater for showtimes. The movie is scheduled to be released on DVD and blu-ray in May.
The premise of this movie is very simple. On August 15th, 2015, while on a train from Amsterdam to Paris, three young Americans vacationing through Europe band together and engage a terrorist in the process of conducting an attack. The rest of the movie pretty much covers a little bit of the background of the three men’s lives leading up to and beyond their thwarting the terrorist attack.
My Take:
Director Clint Eastwood starts this movie similar to what he did with American Sniper. He starts the movie off using the buildup of a climactic moment to then flashback to where it all began. Unlike American Sniper, the details regarding the three friends seem to be, in my opinion, uneventful and dull. For example, we see the boys getting in trouble in public school, then they get sent to a Christian school and are getting in trouble there. Then they grow up together, and try to do what they have their hearts set on doing, and the camera follows them around as they try to do those things, and among their journey there are some good times and some bad times, some delights and some disappointments. Sound intriguing? After a while, you realize that it feels as though you are watching a vacation video of the three friends going to Europe. And then comes the best part; the implementation of the terrorist attack and the efforts to thwart the terrorist on the train. The brawl that occurs on the train is pretty intense and suspenseful, making the re-enactment very well done. The film’s main staple is that the three young men who actually were involved in thwarting the terrorist attack (Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler, and Spencer Stone) all played themselves. While it is rare for a movie based on people to actually be played by those people, one of the problems with that I found is that in many instances, their conversations came off as staged and unnatural. After all, this is their first film without any prior acting experience. And yet, if you really wanted to get more out of this movie than what was there you have to analyze it with a sort of “high powered magnifying glass”.
Out of 4 stars, I would have to give “The 15:17 to Paris” 1 and a half.
The film is rated PG-13 and runs 1 hour and 34 minutes.
To view a trailer for the film, please click on the “Play” button below.
The movie is still running in some select theaters, check your local theater for showtimes. The movie is scheduled to be released on DVD and blu-ray in May.