Death Train

This film has a lot going for it: A simple, but nonetheless engaging, plot, cool action sequences and some fantastic casting. Patrick Stewart and Christopher Lee are, it almost goes without saying, superb. Alexandra Paul really should get more lead roles and Ted Levine makes a pretty good bad guy.

Top marks, though, go to Pierce Brosnan. Despite having to deliver some truly awful dialogue in places he brings the role off to perfection. His "Mike Graham" could be James Bond using a pseudonym (although without the gadgets), and it's no wonder that he went on to become the best Bond so far (and yes I do remember Connery).

This film rates up there with True Lies and The Rock as one of those films that sort of is a Bond film really, even tho' it isn't.

Anyone watching this film because Alistair Maclean's name is on it will be sorely let down. A weak plot involving stolen nukes is nothing you haven't seen before, done better. Some of the acting (Brosnan, Stewart and Paul) is good, but Ted Levine is simply laughable as the secondary antagonist. His silly redneck character weakens any threat to his scenes with Brosnan. The venerable Christopher Lee is rather miscast as an evil Russian mastermind.

Action scenes and photography are OK, but the editing, music and direction are dull. I also found it funny that it is some sort of UN team that goes after the nukes, where in real life it would be the Navy Seals or Delta Force that would be sent to deal with this train (and would certainly do a better job).

I wasn't expecting much from this film but it surprised me. Yes the budget was small, but the acting surprised me, as did the story. The characters had enough development to keep me engaged, Patrick Stewart added his refined seniority, Pierce Brosnan acted the foolhardy gung-ho very well (a preview of his bond days to come). Not brilliant, but deserves more stars than it has. I suspect the low rating has more to do with the cover art and age than the actual content.

In short: if you like a predictable action film pitting good against evil (USA vs Russians hehe) this one is worth checking out. The characters are more than two-dimensional, breaking out of the stereotypes one would expect of a direct-to-VHS feature. Give it a look!

Now on DVD as Detonator, this was a USA Network Original Movie as Alistair MacLean's Death Train. There is also a sequel Detonator II, or Night Watch. Oddly, even though this was first shown on the USA Network, it is available Widescreen and has a small bit of language.

The cast shines here with Ted Lavine (Captain Stottlemeyer on Monk) as the mercenary who high-jacks a train with a nuclear device on it. Ted Lavine is great in these small crazy roles. The Living Legend, Christopher Lee, (Saruman in the Lord of the Rings movies) in one of his non-horror roles, is the Russian General who hired Levine. Any movie with Christopher Lee is worth watching, and this one shows off his ability to speak Russian. Also on board are Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard on Star Trek TNG), Alexandra Paul (Baywatch), and Pierce Brosnan (007) as the Hero.

The story is one where Cold Warriors freak out over the lack of a cold war and do horrible thing to start it back up again. Tom Clancy has covered this territory, the Bush Administration has been all about re-starting tension from day one, so nothing new, but it is entertaining.

The premise is so weird which the writer David Jackson thought was dealing with a moronic audience, if someone has a bomb on Germany to send it straight to Iraq, quite sure the easy way is take it by airplane, instead he enforced a lame screenplay with lot of mismatches and full of holes concerning the accuracy send it by a slowly older train, worst lead by a American mercenary sponsored by a Russian General aiming for respawn a newest URSS already split, Brosnan is called from far off Daytona on Florida takes two schedule flight toward Germany team up with gorgeous Alexandra Paul a sort expert in guns, five language and so on, under the order of the big boss Patrick Stewart from U. N.'s security section against terrorism.

A sharp eye can see all juggling of the writer to fooled the less informed in those countless oddities along the journey of train, likewise in sleeping gas thrown on locomotive, all hijackers previously had gas masks, silly attempt, in the 10 miles tunnel on border of Swiss and Italy the wiser Patrick Stewart has a brainy idea to cut off a small section of a rail train in order to stuck the train inside the tunnel, it wouldn't be easy explode it there, nobody could fix it whatsoever, well we have to stand such foolish thing, and about the countdown bomb, if you guessed that Brosnan will cut all wires on last second before the blasting you is a true genius, in other hand even the far-fetched storyline the picture hold the viewer at chair awake.

Thanks for reading.

Resume: First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 4.