The 15:17 to Paris

A relaxed, laid-back road movie through Europe combined with an attempt to faithfully recreate a foiled terrorist attack in France equals a slight dud. There’s none of Eastwood's excellent playwriting and character refinement. He borrowed real actors, but the outcome backfired. Too much conversation, too little attack, including completely incomprehensible time jumps in the script. Out of respect for the material and for the guys who put a similarly high level of commitment into acting as they did into saving lives in the real world. (05/18/2018)

I wonder if all the critics of “American patriotism" who scold this film would be shouting so much if the main protagonists weren't Americans, but maybe Italians or Poles. I think not. Clint Eastwood doesn't give a damn where these guys are from - he was interested in their ordinary heroics and where, in a simple man, the courage to “just do something" comes from. Rather than glorious, I think he wanted to make a motivating film, and he did. Eastwood then showed his own courage when he cast the three guys whose story he is telling in the main roles, and along with an army of various acting coaches, he made it look natural in front of the camera. He did a great job of it. Their ordinary childhood and quite common worries with their choice of profession and a trip around Europe contrast quite sharply with that unhinged horror on the train, which Eastwood filmed with his typical style of a cold observer. (07/14/2019)

In my opinion, if Eastwood had opted for a feature-length documentary, this would be a hit. This chosen structure is somehow lagging behind, yet I would not reject The 15:17 to Paris in any way; Eastwood’s direction is very apt, and the movie is pleasant even in the scenes which focus too heavily on introducing the characters and their subsequent ramble over Europe. That critical scene everyone is waiting for happens without any bigger gradation and ends up extremely quickly, so I understand many viewers get frustrated. I am not against the casting of real people; I would say it was a healthy choice and the scene was globally well handled by the guys. As for that idealised American patriotism, Clint always manages to wrap it with decency, so that it doesn’t exude throughout the movie—unlike the fluttering American flag at the end of Saving Private Ryan which, doubled with John Williams’ grandiloquent composition, makes for a far worse pathos. (06/12/2020)