I pretty much agree with the others here who liked the film. Actually, I had kind of missed a few of the Hitchcock references until I came here and read about them : )
This is precisely the kind of film where IF the director doesn't know what he is doing, it can really, and I mean REALLY turn out pretty badly. But, thankfully, although I kind of held my breath just waiting for something to be done stupidly, I was quite pleasantly surprised that the movie actually turned out to be very entertaining. NOT Oscar material by any means, but fun and done well enough so that the rather simple story didn't get pulverized by the USUAL atrocious acting in these low-budget films. That was one thing that I feel really held the film together, was the decent acting by pretty much most of the actors involved. In such a story, it would be SOOOOOOOO very easy to overdo it and caricature the roles and ruin everything. But, I was very glad that this was not the case.
I hadn't seen ol' Leelee in while after falling MADLY in love with her after seeing both 'THE GLASS HOUSE' & 'JOYRIDE' (I would also mention 'EYES WIDE SHUT', but I don't want to come across as Pervy... {TOO LATE!!!} oh well...) It was nice to see Danny Glover in action; I hadn't seen him either in quite a while (however, my reaction to him was not quite so lively...)
Basically, this is just a simple, fun, surprisingly well-crafted Thriller which sort of recalls the Classic tone of the old Thrillers on a train that we all love. As far as the 'Realist' Dickheads who feel that the less than 'natural' element in the film 'ruins' it, I say 'Get a PHUK'n imagination, will you?!!' GEEZ... Not bloody EVERYTHING has to have a grueling, gritty sense of 'Realism', does it...?
The story is a very familiar morality tale which we have seen many, MANY times. But, as far as I am personally concerned, if a movie tells the story well and is entertaining, then it is doing it's job. And I feel that this one did.
So, IF you are the kind of person who is completely averse to ALL things fanciful, then you might want to skip this one. BUT... if you at least have somewhat of an active imagination, enjoy Thrillers aboard trains, and you don't mind low-budget films, then I think there is a pretty good chance that you might like this one...
This is precisely the kind of film where IF the director doesn't know what he is doing, it can really, and I mean REALLY turn out pretty badly. But, thankfully, although I kind of held my breath just waiting for something to be done stupidly, I was quite pleasantly surprised that the movie actually turned out to be very entertaining. NOT Oscar material by any means, but fun and done well enough so that the rather simple story didn't get pulverized by the USUAL atrocious acting in these low-budget films. That was one thing that I feel really held the film together, was the decent acting by pretty much most of the actors involved. In such a story, it would be SOOOOOOOO very easy to overdo it and caricature the roles and ruin everything. But, I was very glad that this was not the case.
I hadn't seen ol' Leelee in while after falling MADLY in love with her after seeing both 'THE GLASS HOUSE' & 'JOYRIDE' (I would also mention 'EYES WIDE SHUT', but I don't want to come across as Pervy... {TOO LATE!!!} oh well...) It was nice to see Danny Glover in action; I hadn't seen him either in quite a while (however, my reaction to him was not quite so lively...)
Basically, this is just a simple, fun, surprisingly well-crafted Thriller which sort of recalls the Classic tone of the old Thrillers on a train that we all love. As far as the 'Realist' Dickheads who feel that the less than 'natural' element in the film 'ruins' it, I say 'Get a PHUK'n imagination, will you?!!' GEEZ... Not bloody EVERYTHING has to have a grueling, gritty sense of 'Realism', does it...?
The story is a very familiar morality tale which we have seen many, MANY times. But, as far as I am personally concerned, if a movie tells the story well and is entertaining, then it is doing it's job. And I feel that this one did.
So, IF you are the kind of person who is completely averse to ALL things fanciful, then you might want to skip this one. BUT... if you at least have somewhat of an active imagination, enjoy Thrillers aboard trains, and you don't mind low-budget films, then I think there is a pretty good chance that you might like this one...