Review of The Railway Man (2013) by Thomas A — 14 Dec 2014
Well-intentioned, but predictable.
A movie on the depths of human behaviour, the limits of endurance, and on forgiveness. Good themes, but not well executed. The ending can be seen a mile off. It is made especially easy as the rest of the movie moves so slowly you have heaps of time to figure out where it is going.
Pacing is also off. Moves incredibly slowly, then once the two protagonists meet, it rushes to a conclusion. Feels clumsy.
Casting is...odd. Both the leading actors, Colin Firth and Hiroyuki Sanada, are too young for the characters they are playing, and look it. Stellan Skarsgard has far too much of an accent to pass off as an English/South African/whatever the hell he was supposed to be soldier.
All put in good performances, but were badly miscast.
Good performances too from Jeremy Irvine as the young Lomax and from Nicole Kidman.
An okay, but not great, movie.
This review of The Railway Man (2013) was written by Thomas A on 14 Dec 2014.
The Railway Man has generally received positive reviews.
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