Review of The 15:17 to Paris (2018) by Dave M — 09 Feb 2018

"The 15:17 to Paris" (PG-13, 1:34) is a true story, with the three actual participants in the lead roles! Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone star as themselves - the three young men who fought back against a terrorist on the train of the movie's title in 2015. As we see bits and pieces of the lead-up to the attack and its early moments, the plot really centers around these three guys and their friendship, as it develops from middle school into adulthood. Stone and Skarlatos fulfill their life-long interest in the military by enlisting (Stone in the Air Force and Skarlatos in the Army National Guard), while Sadler was still living back home in Sacramento, trying to decide what to do with his life. Although they were on three different continents at the time, the three old friends decide to get together for a trip through Europe. Sadler and Stone meet up in Italy to begin their travels while Skarlatos visits an old friend in Germany. That's where the three guys link up to continue their European tour as a group. After partying a bit too hard in Amsterdam, they board that train to Paris for, as the film portrays it, their date with destiny... followed by international recognition and lives forever changed.

"The 15:17 to Paris" is written by screenwriter Dorothy Blyskal, adapting the book by Sadler, Skarlatos, and Stone (and Jeffrey E. Stern, another participant in the incident) and is helmed by Oscar-winning director Clint Eastwood. The decision to have the actual heroes play themselves in their story is a noble one and it pays off, as all three young men do a very good job, especially for three guys with no prior acting experience whatsoever (but who now all have agents and have decided to pursue careers in acting). Less wise was the decision to give most of the adult speaking roles to actors primarily known for film and/or TV comedies. (It was distracting and, as a group, they weren't very good.) The kids playing the heroes as kids also could have been better cast - and their dialog definitely could have been better written. The script also awkwardly goes out of its way to impart religious significance to the film's events. In spite of all this, the lives of these three young men are portrayed well and realistically (especially the two who served in the military), the movie is well edited and the terrorist attack and its aftermath is both exciting and interesting to watch as it plays out. This film represents a noble effort, it tells an inspiring story and it's entertaining, but it could have and should have been better than it is. "B".