Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
On Aug. 21, 2015, the world watches in stunned silence as the media reports a thwarted terrorist attack on a train that's bound for Paris -- an attempt prevented by three young Americans traveling together through Europe. The heroic and courageous actions of Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone help to save the lives of more than 500 passengers on board.
The 15:17 to Paris is a bold but flawed experiment from Clint Eastwood, casting the real-life heroes — Sadler, Skarlatos, and Stone — as themselves. The novelty of this docudrama approach is genuinely distinctive and earns some credit, as does the visceral tension of the climactic train sequence. However, the non-professional leads struggle significantly in the scripted dramatic scenes, and the lengthy travelogue middle section feels meandering and dramatically inert. The plot structure is awkward — the film spends far too long on childhood backstory and European tourism before arriving at its genuinely gripping finale. Cinematography is functional but unremarkable. The ending, built around the actual attack and its aftermath, carries real emotional weight precisely because of its true-story grounding, rescuing the film somewhat from its earlier missteps.