Movie Review: The 15:17 to Paris (2018)

This is literally about to be the shortest review ever.

Summary: Americans discover a terrorist plot on a Paris-bound train.

Pros:

Adult Actors. To my surprise there was actually a lot of good and funny actors in this movie. Judy Greer, Jenna Fischer, Tony Hale, Thomas Lennon, Jaleel White and a few others that I was like “hey! it’s that person! lol” I was a little shocked to see them and they were all good in their roles no matter how small.

The Direction. Clint Eastwood was the director and you can tell because it’s a very nice-looking movie and the direction, especially during the train incident was very nice.

It’s a Nice Story Idea. It’s a nice idea to want to showcase the three heroes who prevented a tragedy and show their lives and what not, I think if it wasn’t so boring, or if they did something different to really get us to learn about the heroes and even care about them, I think it might have worked out better. I think the biggest problem was allowing the heroes to play themselves because no matter how likable they are as people,  it just didn’t do it for me in a film.

Cons:

Kid Section. The movie jumps back and forth between the present on the train and their past, but mostly in the past. We get a long time with the kids and I think the kid who played young Anthony was the best out of the three but meh. I feel like the beginning was so odd that they should have just started with them being adults and allowed them to become more interesting and fleshed out as adults. I don’t think we needed to know that their parents were upset with public school and put them into a Christian school. At least we didn’t have to see all of that. A line here or there alongside Spencer praying a lot shows us that he grew up religious. Plus, it would have been nice to see a bit more from Anthony and Alek as well. We learn that Anthony has a smart mouth and really nothing from Alek. A lot of missed opportunities I thought.

Acting Skills. I get the fact that the real heroes play themselves in the movie. That’s fine but I can’t let it pass that their acting skills are pretty lack luster. We see Spencer Stone the most and it’s easy to tell he’s a very earnest person but he cannot act. I think Anthony Sadler was probably the most natural out of the three but that’s still not saying much. We also don’t know much about Alek Skarlatos as he wasn’t in the film as much as the other two and he didn’t have much to do. It’s really really cringe. There’s a particular scene between Spencer Stone and Judy Greer (she plays his mother) and he’s pacing because he’s mad, he didn’t get picked for a particular sector of the military and it was just stilted.

Bad Dialogue. It’s soooooo bad. They try to be funny but it’s really not and since the lead actors aren’t very good it doesn’t help the bad dialogue. Sometimes good actors can kind of help bad dialogue…. sometimes. But when both is bad… yeeesh. I didn’t find any of the actual jokes funny but the serious dialogue made me laugh.

Bloated and Unnecessary. I remember hearing about this incident and it’s amazing what those three did, but it definitely did not merit a full feature length movie because there is literally nothing going on. The actual incident takes place in like five minutes. So the rest of the movie is us seeing them as kids and as friends, and then most Spencer going through the different segments of the army. I guess it’s nice to know their backstory but I came for the incident and I was bored for most of the movie.

Overall, the movie isn’t very good to be honest. I mean, it’s pretty harmless and it’s a nice story but in the end, I didn’t leave feeling any interest in it at all. I actually forgot I watched it. I would have been better off reading the articles or watching the documentary. There are some good elements like the adult actors who are well known actors who are good at their jobs and Clint Eastwood’s direction keep the movie from looking amateurish. However, I don’t think the leading actors are very good and a lot of the dialogue is extremely cringeworthy. It’s also bloated and unnecessary because they try to pull a Titanicand Pearl Harbor and show a bunch of other stuff where the actual story happens at the end and it’s about five minutes long. If you like to see a bit more of the military then you’ll probably enjoy that part but the film leaves a lot left wanting. I believe it could have been more interesting if they cut out the history with the kids and started with the guys as adults but ya know, whatever lol.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars.

Have you seen The 15:17 to Paris? What did you think about it? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!