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Directed by Clint Eastwood, this emotional film shocked many viewers with its unconventional take on casting. Eastwood decided to cast the real heroes in their own story, instead of actors to keep the story captivating and real, but the decision was met with public backlash. The first-time actors had natural charisma and screen presence, but were unable to show effective characterization and an interesting plot, and Eastwood was criticized for this poor decision.
The movie explains that while growing up in Sacramento, these misfits were often bullied and unhappy at school. Skarlatos and Stone — who have been best friends since grade school — got in trouble a lot and were sent to a Christian school, which is where they met Sadler, who completed their group. As children, the three had a fascination with guns and the army and could be content for hours playing “war.” When they grew up, they went their separate ways, all trying to find their purpose in life. Two of them enlisted in the military.
As they reunite to take a journey through Europe, the plot unfortunately doesn’t pick up and continues to lack action. Their vacation has little excitement or growing tension and seems to just take up time to lengthen the movie. The movie lacks the captivating drama needed in any successful film and despite the real friendships between the actors, the on-screen relationships are unable to capture the power of connection and cooperation. Other than the stressful train scene, there is no other conflict within the movie, and it isn’t until the last 30 minutes of the film that the tensions start to increase as the sweaty fight scene against the terrorist takes place.
The fight scene starts out with the camera following the Moroccan gunman onto the train and the music quickly speeds up when he walks toward the train. Then it cuts to the people on the train, who are completely unaware of the danger they will face as they put on their headphones, lie back and let the peaceful music take over. The two moods clash when the terrorist boards the train and immediately goes to the restroom. More stress builds up as he prepares for his attack and jumps out of the bathroom, gun loaded. All of a sudden, there are horrifying screams and the three men jump right into action. The intensity of the gory scene captures all the emotions of the passengers and all they endured on that day.
The movie finally ends with the footage from when the President of France thanked the men by giving them the Legion of Honor award for their heroic actions.
Throughout the movie, Eastwood tries to make his film as powerful as the three heroes. One of the most incredible aspects was how the majority of the cast is played by the people themselves. The train crew and almost all the passengers on the plane in the movie were the ones in real life. This movie was able to help them all, as it was a way for them to cope and deal with all they went through. The single fight scene was able to show how much everyone went through to accurately recreate the events and all the emotions that went into them, but the lack of effort in entertaining throughout other parts of the movie takes away from the overall enjoyment of the film.
