Lasko - Death Train (2006)

I have to think hard here. have I seen another action film about a train that poses a threat to the world if it is not stopped? Is there another train film where all of the passengers are threatened? Hmm, I just watched Midnight Meat train and Night Train Murders. Those certainly had some real terror on the train.If you have seen Steven Segal's film where he tried to stop the bad guys on a train, you have seen this one. I seem to recall that Jean Claude even did one called Derailed. There was even another 2001 film called Death Train set in Mexico.We have been trained to death and I don't think we need another. This was mildly interesting. We did have the daughter of the devil dressed as a nun. A little nunsploitation there.There was also the cute kid angle, and the soldier who was tired of war and became a monk. Didn't Rambo do that, too? I enjoyed Stephan Bieker, but that was the only character that interested me. There was good stunt work, lots of explosions and some good martial arts action, but that doesn't compensate for a poor script, and we've seen it all beforeSecret agents for God? Give me a break.

Well, the theme is a bit different! And Il Papa has a cameo! Must be the habits, but I did find myself thinking "I'm sure Cadfael wouldn't have done that" but I suppose that technology has moved on since his time.I thought the action was pretty good. Some good stunts. How did they do that amazing explosion? The story held together well with no glaring plot holes.I suppose that there really must be some hard-headed Vatican clerics who have to plan realistically for security and logistics behind the scenes of such events as Lourdes.Some of the human interest bits that were pasted on to flesh out the hero were rather wince-worthy. And he was a little too cherubic for my liking. As was the boy. And folk demanding coffee from their underlings.Overall, I thought it was a well acted, all-action thriller - just a shame that the cloying bits were not edited out.

It was guilty of something fairly rare in action films: it had really good character development and a parade of characters centering on a situation instead of the "unstoppable fighter" persona so often seen in American films.The action in this movie is second to the clockwork of characters acting within the situation they find themselves in, and I think that is what causes the lower ratings this movie gets at present. People are expecting a popcorn chewing, Stephen Segalesque brainless smack-fest and instead are treated to a decent cerebral thriller. With a very subtle sense of humor. (An instrumental "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Stones begins playing when Lennart says "Just call me Lucifer", for example.)So the tension builds very early in the film to a warble and never relents until the very end. The peaks and valleys seen in contemporary writing are refreshingly absent here. The pace reminded me of some of the older, really good, espionage films of the '70s and early '80s.Continuing the good; there weren't any cartoonishly evil characters nor sparkling ridiculous good guys. I could believe that Lennart (Arnold Vosloo) might've had a wife and kids to go home to. They all seemed "alive".In fact, all the actors presented decent performances and the only one that stands out is Stephan Bieker. Stephan takes over every scene he's in and I think he's going to be a great actor.However, the film isn't perfect, and its largest flaw is that of having too much story to cover in a short time. I felt that it could've easily been a 3 hour movie, and if it were filmed in the same manner, it'd have been a *great* film.In short; the movie was a good effort, and it provided a really cool story with neat characters, but was ultimately too "smart" for an action flick and too short to tell the tale that needed to be spun. 6.5/10.

It's sad but true, this movie is just a waste of money. Don't get me wrong, I've seen movies which were far more worse. But this flick is just poorly written and badly directed. The action and fight scenes look cheap and most of the acting is poor, due to the actors or the director I can't decide. There are only two reasons to watch this movie - Steve Nicolson and Arnold Vosloo. No outstanding performances, the script is simply to mediocre for that, but both deliver their parts dependably and professional. If you like these two actors and don't expect too much, you'll be entertained anyhow. But make sure, you have enough Chips or Popcorn with you, in case that you get bored.