The 15:17 to Paris (2018)

Though I didn't love J. Edgar and I definitely need to rewatch American Sniper (I rated it 9/10 in the good old days), I usually like Clint Eastwood's movies. The 15:17 Train to Paris is a different story. The trailer didn't look that appealing to me and now that I've seen the movie I know why. 

The 15:17 Train to Paris follows the course of the lives of three friends, Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler, from the struggles of childhood through finding their footing in life, to the trip through Europe where they managed to stop a terrorist attack on a train from Amsterdam to Paris on August 21, 2015.

Just in case you didn't realise it, the film is based on a true story. Of course it is, Clint Eastwood made it. And, as you probably guessed, the film doesn't really focus on the attack itself but on the lives of the three young men. That I liked. The problem is that there is not enough material to fill a whole movie --which explains the short running time of the film, an hour and thirty minutes. 

It's boring seeing the three friends grow up mainly because there's nothing special about it. Other than their friendship lasting and the fact that two of them joined the military, there's absolutely nothing here. Eastwood doesn't develop any theme and therefore this part is as shallow as it gets. It's not like their reunion and their trip through Europe is any less boring than what came before. It's just as bland as everything else. As for the attack itself, we don't learn anything from this film that we didn't already learn on the news at the time of the attack. So yeah, this film utterly pointless. 

The characters are just another flaw. They don't any a lot of depth and there are just too many of them. I mean, there are supporting characters coming out of nowhere all the time, and after a second or two, they are gone. What's the point in that? Also, at some point, the film completely forgets about Skarlatos and Sadler and only focuses on Stone.

Warner Bros. Pictures
Then there's Clint Eastwood's brilliant idea of using the real heroes to play themselves in the movie. While it was an interesting idea and I'm sure it has never been done before, with such a weak script, casting non-actors for leading roles is not a good idea. Not wonders Stone, Skarlatos and Sadler's performances are bland and stale (by the way, I just realised all of their last names begins with 's'). I'm not saying I'd do better than them, but at least I'm not starring in a freaking movie. Among the actors, there are Jenna Fischer (Pam from The Office) and Judy Geer playing Skarlatos and Stone's mothers respectively and they share what's easily one of the most awkward scenes of the year. 

As if all that wasn't enough, Clint Eastwood thought it was a good idea to make the film very slow paced. After all, there's no other way to fill an hour and a half with so little. Also, he fails completely to deliver a tense, suspenseful scene on the train. That one is easily one of the most tedious action sequences I've seen. 

Ultimately, The 15:17 Train to Paris is a movie that tries too hard to be inspirational and fails. The only good thing in this movie for me was seeing Skarlatos wearing Müller's jersey. I'm sure I wouldn't have felt the way if I wasn't a die-hard Bayern fan. 

8 comments :

  1. Come ho scritto dalle mie parti, per per me il peggior film di Eastwood è comunque migliore di tanti altri filmetti e filmacci che infestano le nostre sale. Non vi è dubbio che si tratti di un film minore, certo non memorabile (specie in confronto ai tanti capolavori girati da Clint) ma non lo trovo affatto un brutto film: Eastwood prosegue la sua personalissima galleria sugli "eroi per caso" americani (da "American Sniper" in poi) con un intento ben preciso: far vedere che l'America di oggi è un paese in crisi che ha disperatamente bisogno di figure eroiche in cui identificarsi. E qui Eastwood, come dici te, si supera: fa interpretare i ruoli di protagonisti ai VERI protagonisti, in modo da ottenere il massimo del simbolismo. Ovviamente la sceneggiatura e le situazioni del film sono volutamente semplificate (ma neanche troppo) per venire incontro alle ridotte capacità attoriali dei tre ragazzi, tuttavia il film è una potentissima allegoria sulla politica americana di oggi. Il finale girato all'Eliseo, con i tre salvatori insigniti da Hollande (e catapultati in una storia più grande di loro) è davvero eloquente.

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    1. Devo dire che il finale non mi è dispiaciuto ma il film proprio non fa per me. Mi fa piacere ti sia piaciuto.

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  2. I really liked the background to this movie but I haven't read many positive reviews about it. I think I'm going to take your word and avoid it!

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  3. I love Clint Eastwood but I had no interest in seeing this and based on the reviews. I can see why it didn't click with audiences nor critics. I'll probably watch it one of these days if I ever decide to do an Auteurs piece on Eastwood. Just not anytime soon as possible.

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    1. I love Eastwood too but this movie was just a mess.

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  4. I was wondering about this film and my concerns seem justified by what your review. Eastwood seems to like slow. I watched a film from him with Matt Damon who can see dead people or something like that...can't quite recall. It takes places during and mainly, after the tsunami hit in Indonesia and he created something so boring and slow-paced..it was horrible when the plot could have been great.

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    1. Hereafter is the movie. I liked it when I watched it years ago but I'm not sure how I'd feel about it now.

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