I've Seen It

The 80′s action/high concept film is alive and well in 2010. I got the feeling that Tony Scott barely broke a sweat bringing this to the screen. Cannot say the same for audience as the film goes into over drive.

I do have a soft spot for Tony Scott. He knows how to play me. He has a stylish powerful direction which the boy in me cannot get enough of. I first came across his name when I saw ‘Crimson Tide’ (also starring Washington). A quick lookup revealed that I was in fact already a fan – having seen and loved ‘Top Gun’, ‘Beverly Hills Cop II’ and ‘The Last Boy Scout’.

If you know his style, then watch this flick as it is presented by the bucket load. In rural Pennsylvania, an incident results in a dangerous driverless runaway train. Now being the US we’re talking hulking beasts of machinery. On the other side of the state, we have Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) as the rookie and Denzel Washington as the old hand – cannot get used to that concept. It’s their first day on the job together and they don’t hit off immediately – you get the drill.

It was a nice touch to have live news reports fill the audience in with the need to know details of the rescue attempt. This left a little more time for characterizations. It’s a shame they didn’t make more of it as he did with Crimson Tide – with help from Tarantino back then.

If you are a Tony Scott fan then watch this as you’ll get what you expect. If you are looking for a roller-coaster of an action flick to just sit back and take in, then this is the film for you.

Keep ‘em coming Tony!