Two men escaped from freshly a high security prison lost deep in Alaska are trapped in a runaway train going at full speed with no one driving. Here's the pitch rather minimalist Runaway Train, released in 1985, which presents itself first as a film Trivias ( aka "trivia" ) particularly tasty. It would indeed be the first American feature film Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, who signed the initial scenario and, for financial reasons, did not succeed in turn. A few years later, the project eventually fell into the hands of Andrei Konchalovsky, a Russian filmmaker strange career, faithful collaborator of Andrei Tarkovsky in its infancy and author of many historical films on his land native, who was also exiled for a time in the United States where he tried his hand at various genres with some great talent (as discussed here). In addition, Runaway Train necessarily claims the coveted status of "film with the highest number of times the word fuck in his dialogues, dialogues that, in their French versions, are an unintentional comedy it seems irresistible but making tribute little to the actual quality of a film that does not really deserve to be taken up. 
If Angelina Jolie was the goat, it would look like to that Unusually for a feature film like this, Runaway Train received three Oscar nominations, not least because two of them were for his two main actors: Jon Voight and Eric Roberts. The latter has also invested so much in his role that he spent two years imprisoned in actual possession of a lambda, so as to better immerse themselves in their roles and hone her acting skills, strong d a real experience with convicts of the worst kind. The experience was not in vain because the actor is literally inhabited by his role and delivers an incredible performance, even giving us some classic moments. Her character is presented as coming to spend three years in chains, and we do not doubt for one second because of its impressive performance. The actor appears here in an equally interesting in the sense that it must be the exact opposite of the one he portrays in Issue where he is, at the beginning of the film in any case, the civilized man par excellence, with a charm and looks almost feminine. Jon Voight here embodies a true beast, far enough away from humans, of ugliness reminiscent of his daughter Angelina Jolie transsexual. Eric Roberts is doing very well also, in the difficult role of a simpleton as beefy as naive, but brave and courageous, a role that seems to have been written for him and his old broken face, reminiscent of an ugly his sister Julia Roberts.
The other star of the film is of course the runaway train, a real character in itself, far more impressive than cinégénique yet longer and larger (in short, more American) of sad Tony Scott film. Andrei Konchalovsky knows brilliantly filmed his engine and make it spectacular, especially during its first real appearance, accompanied by a bombastic music, but also from the generic, which is strangely reminiscent of that of Das Boot , except that the dark shape of a sub- Marine progressively invading green immensity is replaced here by a train Scarlet splitting in two the night with a bang. The train is also changed following the first accident that causes, which makes it look even more monstrous, as if escaping the tentacles of his engine, something the filmmaker also operates perfectly. In addition, the course of this film is truly "unstoppable" as opposed to another scrap heap of Tony Scott's misleading title (it was simply history you spoiler Unstoppable and rotten happy ending). In fact, everywhere where Konchalovsky succeeds Tony Scott fails miserably, and is infinitely more. He gives us great images, taking advantage of its minimalist and clear history to illustrate some very good ideas of cinema. I think especially to the many nearly abstract sequences, where we can admire the black line across the white canvas to any speed, an almost surreal beauty. This unstoppable train that travels through the snowy landscape, with obstacles that present themselves to him in turn, is perhaps a good metaphor for this cinema, whose goal is to keep us in suspense any cost in us leading to surprise after surprise, test after test.
The front of the train, launched at high speed after a first encounter with an obstacle Runaway Train appears as the ultimate action film, containing within them the archetypes of the genre as the story of escape, but I think especially to the superb first half hour of the film, which is a vigorous chronic prison, dark and brutal, where the filmmaker takes time to introduce his characters, a time that is no longer today ' hui. But Runaway Train is more than just awfully good action movie, it's also a true auteur film, with a romantic and quite profound meditation on man and machine (nothing to do with heroism to bite me-the-node 'Unstoppable ). This meditation is also nicely illustrated by Shakespeare's quote, taken from Richard III, which closes the film: "No beast so fierce goal Knows Some touch of pity. But I know none, and am no beast Therefor. " The ultimate film plane (WARNING: stop here if you plan to see it) is indeed very striking: it shows the most dangerous convicts rush straight to his death, finally free as air, while the head of the prison, the very man who has dehumanized and reduced its prisoners to the state animal, is about to die chained in darkness of a prison at speed.
How not to be glued to this movie? From the first images of its generic as simple as great, until his terrible conclusion, magnified by the glorious music of Vivaldi, it is literally clinging to our armchair facing the work of an intensity rarely matched. Runaway Train is in my opinion one of the greatest action movies ever made, a work rather unknown and certainly under-estimated the 80 that I warmly invite you to rediscover. It is ultimately very silly of me to have compared this film often close to the absurd to the last Tony Scott signed stew, since it would bring more significant Runaway Train works as Vanishing Point or Blacktop Two Way . And I am quite serious when I write it, Be safe.
Runaway Train Andrei Konchalovsky with Jon Voight, Eric Roberts and Rebecca DeMornay (1985)
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