Clint Eastwood is back doing films based on real events. This time it’s about the 2015 attack on a train bound for Paris. The trailer has been released and it feels like the most American thing that you could imagine.
The film seems to pad out the attack into a 20 year journey of the three friends, who actually play themselves in the film. I would expect to see the first 90 minutes watching three kids growing up before a final act of the attack.
I have already talked about my contempt for this sort of film before and this one drives it home. It’s another one in the line of “showing how great Americans are”. We’ve already seen Stronger and Patriots Day come out in the last couple of years. I’ll expect this to do quite good business in its first week and then sink without a trace. I wouldn’t expect to see this film make its money back from its run in cinemas worldwide. Unless it was made really, really cheaply
In the early evening of August 21, 2015, the world watched in stunned silence as the media reported a thwarted terrorist attack on Thalys train #9364 bound for Paris—an attempt prevented by three courageous young Americans travelling through Europe. The film follows the course of the friends’ lives, from the struggles of childhood through finding their footing in life, to the series of unlikely events leading up to the attack. Throughout the harrowing ordeal, their friendship never wavers, making it their greatest weapon and allowing them to save the lives of the more than 500 passengers on board.
