Death Train

I totally enjoyed this movie. It's a shame when people nitpick over little details. Let's all remember WHY we go to the movies in the first place: we want to believe that there's a happy ending, that there's a crazy, action packed setting where lots of unbelievable things happen. Explosions galore in this one! Lots of cars getting blown up (how crazy was the timing on the hummer driving RIGHT past the truck that the villain had stuck a detonator to?), helicopters smashing into trains... It's a miracle the train survived as long as it did! The only thing that puzzles me is how a train has a "ventilation system" that runs throughout all the cars in sequence. Lots of great martial arts, and a rather interesting storyline. The strong arm of the Vatican? Interesting plot line and sorry, but you don't see a whole slew of movies based on "death trains." The characters were believable, and there were a few humorous moments, most notably the atypical heavyset monk, and the main villain calling himself Lucifer. If you want non stop action, this movie delivers; it has you on the edge of your seat until the very end. I highly recommend it.

It was guilty of something fairly rare in action films: it had really good character development and a parade of characters centering on a situation instead of the "unstoppable fighter" persona so often seen in American films.

The action in this movie is second to the clockwork of characters acting within the situation they find themselves in, and I think that is what causes the lower ratings this movie gets at present. People are expecting a popcorn chewing, Stephen Segalesque brainless smack-fest and instead are treated to a decent cerebral thriller. With a very subtle sense of humor. (An instrumental "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Stones begins playing when Lennart says "Just call me Lucifer", for example.)

So the tension builds very early in the film to a warble and never relents until the very end. The peaks and valleys seen in contemporary writing are refreshingly absent here. The pace reminded me of some of the older, really good, espionage films of the '70s and early '80s.

Continuing the good; there weren't any cartoonishly evil characters nor sparkling ridiculous good guys. I could believe that Lennart (Arnold Vosloo) might've had a wife and kids to go home to. They all seemed "alive".

In fact, all the actors presented decent performances and the only one that stands out is Stephan Bieker. Stephan takes over every scene he's in and I think he's going to be a great actor.

However, the film isn't perfect, and its largest flaw is that of having too much story to cover in a short time. I felt that it could've easily been a 3 hour movie, and if it were filmed in the same manner, it'd have been a *great* film.

In short; the movie was a good effort, and it provided a really cool story with neat characters, but was ultimately too "smart" for an action flick and too short to tell the tale that needed to be spun. 6.5/10.

Well, the theme is a bit different! And Il Papa has a cameo! Must be the habits, but I did find myself thinking "I'm sure Cadfael wouldn't have done that" but I suppose that technology has moved on since his time.

I thought the action was pretty good. Some good stunts. How did they do that amazing explosion? The story held together well with no glaring plot holes.

I suppose that there really must be some hard-headed Vatican clerics who have to plan realistically for security and logistics behind the scenes of such events as Lourdes.

Some of the human interest bits that were pasted on to flesh out the hero were rather wince-worthy. And he was a little too cherubic for my liking. As was the boy. And folk demanding coffee from their underlings.

Overall, I thought it was a well acted, all-action thriller - just a shame that the cloying bits were not edited out.

Even though I'm not Catholic, I weary of movies that bash them or portray their clergy or adherents in the worst possible light. 'Lasko: Death Train' is charmingly pro-Catholic, and a lot of fun.

What could be more enjoyable for Catholic 9 to 15-year olds than to see kung-fu monks try and stop mercenaries from distributing a deadly stolen virus on a train of pilgrims bound for Lourdes to see the Pope? For what it is, this movie is relatively safe for young people -- only a smidgen of vulgar language, very little blood, and nothing prurient. Classroom teachers should feel pretty safe about showing it to students.

The editing, music, cinematography, pacing, etc. are all very good. Okay, so the dialogue sounds like it came out a Japanese animated film at times, but kids won't care. There won't be anything new here for action flick fans, but what is here is handled carefully and done well.

I liked it. Kids will enjoy it, too.

This was a pretty good action movie with believable characters, given the genre. The ex- soldier Lasko sick of death and hiding out in a monastery (Mathis Landwehr) reluctantly takes up the gauntlet to be the Vatican's point man in a struggle against terrorists centered on a train bearing pilgrims from Cologne Germany to Lourdes.

You also have a deadly virus, helicopters, explosions, martial arts fights in and on top of the moving train, rockets, guns, knives, the works. Pretty good pyrotechnics too. The single most unbelievable thing in the plot is when a henchman parks his truck right across the tracks while waiting to pick up the bad guys, anticipating the train will stop before it hits him, thinking the bad guys control the engine. I cannot believe anyone would not simply have parked a few meters away, just off the tracks. Too stupid to believe even of idiots.

I could more readily swallow Vatican secret agents than that incident, though who knows. There were military orders of monks during the crusades.

Mathis Landwehr looks to be in great shape in the early scenes when he is shirtless. He has a fine physique: lean but muscular and looks completely believable as a martial artist.

I hope they do a sequel, as the title suggests. In English it was Lasko:Death Train. That suggests Lasko: the Next Adventure. I would watch it.