The 15:17 to Paris: A mediocre film about great heroes
By John Dotson
The new film The 15:17 to Paris does a fantastic job of telling the events of three heroic men, but is that enough to overcome its flaws?
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The 15:17 to Paris is a film that Clint Eastwood tried to make as accurate to real-life as possible. In doing so, he even hired the real-life heroes to star as themselves in the movie. He tried to depict all of the biographical events in as raw a way as possible that led to this single life-changing moment. It’s an ambitious and admirable choice for the veteran director, however, the result is a mixed bag of a film that does not work the way it should.
The film stars Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler, and Spencer Stone as themselves in the incredible heroic story about them overtaking an armed terrorist on a French train. The story itself is very incredible, once we get there. The mind frame a person puts themselves in to charge a man holding an AK-47 is absolutely staggering. The scene on the train alone is definitely worth the watch.
Here is the problem though. The first 20 minutes of The 15:17 to Paris is an absolute mess. Clint Eastwood is one of the best filmmakers of our time, but he should never be allowed to work with children again. The first portion of the film reflects on the childhood of Alek, Anthony, and Spencer. None of the scenes feel important, and the kids are terrible actors to top it off. If I wasn’t reviewing the film, I probably would’ve left the movie. Thankfully, I did not leave, and the film did improve once we arrived to the grownup version of the characters.
Once we get to the second act, the film is mercifully much better. The acting is still clunky, but the real-life heroes turned actors do well for being first timers. We get to see what molded these guys into the brave men they are. Two of the friends– Alek and Spencer join the military, while Anthony goes off to college. Eastwood shows us how Spencer was trained to subdue an enemy and help victims find relief. We also get glimpses of Alek’s life working in the National Guard.
In the final stage of the film, the three long-time friends decide to go backpacking through Europe and, fortunately, for 500 passengers on the Thalys train #9364 bound for Paris, these guys were at the right place, at the right time to save lives. The climactic train sequence is definitely the highlight of the film and is extremely intense. You will forget to breathe during moments, and it feels true to life.
Sadly though, this is the only part of the film that feels like Eastwood gave it much thought. The rest of the movie has good moments but not enough to feel worthy of its runtime, which is already short to begin with. We did not need all the childhood stuff because most of that could have been summarized by better writing. We did not have to experience everything that happened in their life leading up to this. All we needed was this simple act of bravery to know who they were.
In United 93, the film wasn’t worth watching because you got their entire life backstory. The film was worth watching because of the bravery depicted by the passengers.
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Overall, the film itself feels like Eastwood trying to accomplish the same ideas he captured in American Sniper. Even though his heart is in the right place, The 15:17 to Paris has less of an impact than previous efforts. That said, if you can get past the bumpy first half of the film, the finale has an incredible finish.
The 15:17 To Paris is now in theaters everywhere!