Death Train

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!

"Death Train" is not that bad.You can watch it easily but you can't expect anything from this movie.Big stars are joined in this one,such as Pierce Brosnan,Patrick Stewart and Christopher Lee.This movie isn't good but it isn't bad too.Somewhere stuck in the middle.I know the film locations so it's a bit interesting to watch the movie and realize that movie stars of this class where in your country.It's not that usual to see Brosnan,Stewart and Lee in Croatia and I think that they all did good job.Most of them did this because of money but hey isn't that what all people do?I realize that there are lots of mistakes in this movie and that plot is quite stupid but try to turn off for a 90 min. and just watch the movie.It will work,just don't think about reality of the situation because there aren't any.But we've got excellent male actors in this movie and everybody knows about them.But they have to act sometimes in movies like this.5/10

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.

When I found `Detonator' at the video store and saw that it had Patrick Stewart and Pierce Brosnan in the staring roles, I got my hopes up. I thought, with Captain Pacard and James Bond in the movie, it should be pretty good. Then I saw that Alexandra Paul and Christopher Lee were also in the movie and thought with a cast like that, how could the film help but be good. Well, I found out.

The premise of the movie is not bad; a fanatical Russian military man (Christopher Lee) builds a nuclear bomb and tries to detonate it, on a train bound for Iran, to trigger a military resurrection of the former Soviet Union. Of course, an elite team of United Nations commandos (Patrick Stewart, Pierce Brosnan and Alexandra Paul) tries to stop the train before ultimate fireworks show takes place. Maybe not the most original storyline for an action/adventure movie, but it had some potential.

Unfortunately, not even this cast could make up for the horrible script `Detonator' offers. This is not the first script David Jackson has written, but it sure seems like it. In fact, the dialog is so dry and uninspired, that the chemistry one would expect between actors of this caliber is absolutely non-existent; which makes this movie boring, and a real disappointment.

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).