The 15:17 to Paris Works as a Tribute but Not as a Film

         Gillipedia Official Rating: Thought: Movies are better with actors

    The bravery of the three young men in this film in a dire, unexpected, and terrible event is unendingly commendable. They rightfully received high honors and awards from both the French and Americans. Instead of going down as a tragic terrorist attack, the world knows the events that took place on an Amsterdam train headed to Paris as a tale of heroism from some regular guys trying to do the right thing. But friends, coworkers, and potential lovers, this is the Gillipedia. We critique a film based on merits, and it brings no joy to this Clint Eastwood fan to say that The 15:17 to Paris is not a good movie.

          For those that somehow missed this event or need a refresher, three American guys were on a train to France, enjoying a vacation. A terrorist was strapped with three-hundred rounds of ammunition ready to wreak havoc upon the people aboard. With quick thinking and a steadfast mentality, the Americans tackled and subdued the terrorist, and he was arrested when the train reached its destination. It’s the kind of story that grabs headlines and brings forth a feeling of togetherness amidst difficult times. Not only was it decided to make a movie out of the event, but the real three Americans were cast to play themselves.

          Let’s start with the potential of the film. Because it’s not like the film is in bad taste or controversial for wrong reasons. The theme here is all about how people grow up and want to help others, but they struggle to find real meaning to their lives; sometimes the biggest moments in life are those that you don’t see coming. But when the moment comes, you’re ready for it, and you do the right thing.

          Like I said, the message isn’t bad. But so many factors come into play that work its way into creating what becomes this mess. Since the horrific incident on the train is so quick, that means you need to fill the runtime with a bunch of other scenes for a complete film. The train scene is the centerpiece of the film, but the movie has to build up to get to it.

          And there are a couple things that actually work with this. For instance, of the three guys, the main character is Spencer Stone—a guy who tries and fails at most of his ambitions like basketball and football. He joins the Air Force, but he isn’t able to apply for the position that he is really drawn to. During his training he’s taught about how to treat wounds with whatever you’ve got on hand, and that comes into play in a subtle enough way on the train. The driving force of what put Spencer where he was at that moment in time in life is framed well, and the cool touch of Eastwood’s directing can be felt.

          So where’s the problem? The film starts off pretty inconspicuously as it follows the three guys, Spencer, Alex, and Anthony, as they cause trouble in school and bond as friends. Some of the best things about the film are in the supporting cast of real actors that play the moms of Spencer and Alex, Jenna Fischer and Judy Greer, and Tony Hale in a brief role as a gym coach. Anyways, after 15 minutes of childhood, the film follows Spencer as he joins the Air Force. He shows that he has a passion for the work that’s done, but he continues to mess up. After 40 minutes of this, Spencer gets in touch with Alex and Anthony about traveling all over Europe.

          If you haven’t put the pieces together yet, that’s okay. Let’s break this down. The climax on the train is well put together if still brief, so the film has to fill up a running time of 90 minutes, and it really struggles to drag it out. Having the bulk of your film be about backstory and then contemplating and enjoying life across Europe isn’t necessarily a recipe for disaster. Films like Before Sunrise spend the entire film talking about life while the two main characters walk around pretty locales. The thing is, Before Sunrise starred Ethan Hawke. When there’s only one action scene, a film is carried by the actors saying the dialogue in the rest of the scenes. And the traveling around Europe scenes have neither compelling dialogue, nor the strong actors required to carry the scenes.

          The guys try their best to act. They really do. But their delivery is flat, and they clearly don’t have training on how to inflect and vary the way they speak. It’s compensated a little by the naturalistic approach to dialogue, but I’m really stretching when I say it's compensated. There’s also a lot of times where Spencer walks across a room, and his motion is just too robotic and rehearsed. Instead of making scenes flow together, it simply reminds me of how stiff the acting is and takes me out of the experience. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen, but it’s also not very entertaining either.

          The whole concept of the film is to go as naturalistic as possible. The locations are real, the story is real, and hey! The actors are real too! There’s a minimal amount of music, and the guys talk to each other like how they normally would. Even the climax on the train doesn’t feature music to put the audience right there with the guys in the throng of this crazy, spur-of-the-moment event. But it doesn’t come together.

          Three things needed to have happened to help this film out. First, and most obviously, cast real actors. It’s awesome that they wanted to honor these guys by letting them star in their own film, but it really brings down the experience. Second, the story needs to be overhauled. There’s way too many scenes in the Air Force and traveling around Europe that don’t lead anywhere or conclude in a humorous or meaningful way. It’s meant to help bring the audience into the world, but the conversations at hand aren't compelling. And the editors of this film knew that too. That’s why every 20 minutes the film flashes forward to the train to reassure the audience that don’t worry, you only have to sit through a little bit more of these scenes before we take you to the real reason you’re watching this film. And third and most importantly, just don’t make this movie. While watching the credits, it stood out to me that the three young men wrote a book and that’s what this film is based off. I haven’t read the book, but I assume it tells just about the same set of events that the movie does; however, the format of a book works much better for a story like this. You can still garner the intensity of the train in a book, but you don’t have to worry about the rest feeling like filler because not everything translates from book to film and vice versa.

          If you happened to enjoy this movie, it’s probably due in large part to the real story behind it all. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I have nothing to critique about the heart of the three young men, and I have nothing but praise and respect for their actions. But if you’re going to be stars in a movie, you’re subjected to the same treatment that I give to everyone else. And in the case of this movie, it’s just not good.

 

In Brief:

I recently watched the Renee Zellweger film Judy, and I hate to admit it, but she did indeed deserve the Oscar. I was pulling hard for Johansson who put out a brilliant performance in Marriage Story, but Zellweger is transformative. The film as a whole is pretty standard drug-abuse biopic; however, I wasn’t very familiar with Judy Garland’s story, and it definitely gave me Macaulay Culkin vibes.

Amazon Prime has a new original movie out called 7500 starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It takes place in the cockpit of a plane as JGL deals with terrorists trying to hijack it. It brings intensity, and JGL plays a more reserved character which is different from what is usually seen and that’s refreshing. It’s pretty good.

I also watched two Netflix originals: The Night Clerk, and I finally got around to Extraction. I’m a big fan of Tye Sheridan, and he stars in The Night Clerk alongside Ana de Armas from Knives Out, John Leguizamo, and Helen Hunt. Sheridan puts in a dedicated performance, de Armas is always charming, but—and I’m sorry for this—Helen Hunt is frightening. She plays Sheridan’s caring mother, but I think she’s fallen victim to too much plastic surgery because it looks like she wears some twisted mask throughout and it’s all I could think about whenever she appears. If you watch it, I hope you see what I’m talking about. But don’t watch it. The story is very problematic on multiple levels, and it doesn’t satisfy in the slightest. Extraction, however, is so much fun. It’s gaining notoriety for the 12-minute, simulated one-shot action scene in the middle, and it’s absolutely amazing. The rest is pretty good action fare overall, but I do have some critiques. But go watch it, or at least watch the big action scene.