Last Passenger

As amazing as it seems, Britain has managed to churn out a B-movies that doesn't include a single zombie, no (middle-class actors playing) cockney gangsters and not a reel of found footage in sight. Instead, what we have here is a kind of 'Speed' film.

Dougray Scott plays a single father, who's taking his young son on the train just before Christmas. Unfortunately for him and the handful of passengers left on board (including the single female of appropriate age who just so happens to find single fathers REALLY attractive), the train refuses to stop and they must work out a way of getting off before it smashes into whatever there is at the end of train tracks in Britain (a wall of spikes, perhaps? I don't actually know).

So, what you have is a reasonably passable British thriller, which, at some points, manages to hit the right notes. The train is a familiar setting (at least for us Brits, anyway) and so makes a relatable place (plus I'm guessing it was a pretty cheap set for the film-makers). However, unlike Keanu Reeves' classic action movie, where the bus couldn't slow down and was in perilous danger at every turn, the train just stays on the tracks. Effectively, the few passengers left on board could just sit around in relative comfort for most of the movie, only really needing to figure out a way of getting off five minutes before the end. Therefore, you have a fair amount of time where they're doing just that.

The other downside is the kid. Yes, I know kids in films get a bad name, but this one really isn't that good. Luckily, he's not in it that much, but when he is you'll wish he wasn't.

Overall, not bad for a film on the cheap. If you're bored of zombies, gangsters and found footage B-movies you may enjoy this one (just don't dwell on the slightly dodgy computer special effects when the train catches fire).

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Dougray Scott is a fantastic actor and I always look out for him in films (check out new town killers in which he is mesmeric). So this film stayed above average - just - due to his presence. aside from that it is an average thriller, not edge of your seat stuff (train or otherwise) but definitely worth a view if there's nothing else doing. i think it is unfair to mark this down anymore and anyone who totally disses this film does not realise how many truly poor movies there are out there and this is definitely not one of them. Think "Speed" without the gorgeousness of keanu or sandra nor the mental insanity of denis hopper at his best. So if you can get over that, you should be fairly entertained. The direction and pacing is good, the characterisation is also above average.

I have just watched this movie and although it's never going to be a classic I considered it a perfectly good watch for its 1hr 36 minutes. The premise of the movie is not original nor is the progression right through to the end but as a complete movie it delivers most respectfully. Naturally you will get the anorak geeks on here slating the movie for technical inaccuracies but if I wanted to know the exact workings of a train I'd not have any friends and sit on a train platform with a Thermos of tea and a note pad like these 'Billy-No-Mates' do. For normal people I want to just be immersed in a film for 1.5 hours. I thought the acting was OK and contrary to one reviewer from Bermuda, Dougray Scott's voice is clear and not a mumble, nor is is it a strange accent. Typical of someone not from the UK thinking all Scots should sound like either Billy Connolly or Mrs Doubtfire! Yes I sound like Dick Van Dyke from Mary Poppins because I come from London! All in all a good film to pass an afternoon with.

Lately I haven't been able to concentrate on most movies. I finally decided that I had seen so many films that my Netflix list had moved into second and third tier films. While "Last Passenger" isn't the be-all and end-all of action/adventure films, it was certainly entertaining and exciting.

Most of these types of films, including high-end James Bond movies, have pretty preposterous plots and action sequences. It's been pointed out that this film is very inaccurate as far as the mechanics of trains, the train stops on this particular line, and today's fail-safe mechanisms. The average person doesn't know that.

This is a wild film, highly improbable, and thrilling, with attractive stars Dougray Scott and Kara Toinin. The ruggedly-handsome Scott does a job as a loving father determined to protect his son, and Kara Toinin is both gorgeous and sympathetic. The two have great chemistry. Lindsay Duncan, whom I saw in person in Private Lives, is a marvelous actress. Though she has a small part here, she's wonderful and classy. I enjoyed all the acting, even if the little boy here is no Leonardo di Caprio in the making.

I get a little tired of people criticizing films as if, for instance, a movie like this is supposed to be Citizen Kane when it isn't. I don't understand taking a film apart frame by frame and criticizing it, unless, of course, it's a boring, horrid, pretentious film. However, no one seems to do that with boring, horrid, pretentious films. When I look at IMDb reviews, those are the films that are hailed as "classics" that "demand multiple viewings." Well, David Lynch movies might demand multiple viewings, but others don't -- by me, anyway, since often I can't through five minutes of them. Sometimes it's enough that a film is fast moving, entertaining. where one cares about the characters.

So there, I liked it. Chacun à son goût.

The widow Dr. Lewis Shaler (Dougray Scott) and his son Max (Joshua Kaynama) are traveling late night by train to London. Lewis will leave Max with his grandparents to attend victims of a great accident at the hospital where he works. When Max accidentally spills coffee on the coat of the promoter Sarah Barwell (Kara Tointon), Lewis is embarrassed and offers to pay for the cleaning of her coat. Soon they start a conversation and feel attracted for each other. When the train stops, Lewis sees a man on the track apparently fixing the brakes. When the trains moves, he sees another man crawling on the tracks. Lewis seeks out the train guard (Samuel Geker-Kawle) and finds that he is missing. Further, the train does not stop at the stations. He tries to contact the driver that asks how many passengers are still on board and nothing else. Lewis contacts the passengers Jan Klimowski (Iddo Goldberg), Peter Carmichael (David Schofield) and Elaine Middleton (Lindsay Duncan) and they team-up expecting to stop the train. Soon they conclude that the train has no brake and the driver is a suicidal. What will happen to them?

"Last Passenger" is a tense and effective low budget thriller. The story takes place in a train along 97 minutes running time and is never boring. The chemistry between Dougray Scott and the gorgeous Kara Tointon is amazing and their romance is pleasant to see. The conclusion is a little confused but this film is surprisingly good. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Último Passageiro" ("The Last Passenger")