Reviewed by Geno McGahee
I love movies about found money. One of my favorite films is A SIMPLE PLAN, where three men find four million or so dollars and then a lot of bad things begin to happen because of it. So I heard of NIGHT TRAIN, not to be confused with NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR, a great horror anthology, by the way, a movie that involved three people that stumble across a fortune and decide to keep it, creating many problems for themselves.
You can’t go wrong with Danny Glover. That was the first thing that this film did right. They got Glover. He carried Mel Gibson in the LETHAL WEAPON series, he was great in POOR MAN’S GAME, GONE FISHIN’, and made a stir in the horror world in the original SAW. Are you a Glover lover? You should be. The guy is great, and as “Miles,” the train conductor in NIGHT TRAIN, he once again impresses. He is the conductor on a train that is nowhere near capacity. In fact, some cars only have one passenger. One car has two in Chloe (Leelee Sobieski) and Peter (Steve Zahn). This is a reunion. These two were in the horror flick JOYRIDE, and now they return and I have to say something. I am going to admit that I was wrong. Leelee Sobieski is super hot, not average as I once stated. She looks outstanding in this movie and when you combine that with her acting ability, you have a winner.
Well, Chloe is a medical student and Peter is a failing drunken salesman. Chloe is on her way home to be with her family while Peter is going nowhere in particular. He is a failure in life…and has all but given up. That’s when things get strange. A stranger enters the car and sits across from the duo. He dies shortly thereafter. On his lap is an Xmas gift and curiosity gets the best of the duo and they open it. Inside is a wooden locked box with a small window to see inside. It appears to be the answer to the prayers of the two and when Miles looks inside, he sees the answer to his issues. His wife is having insurance problems at the hospital and not getting proper treatment…this would change it. So now they have to figure out what to do. That’s when Chloe shows her true colors.
The plan is to throw the body off the train while passing over a bridge over a large body of water, but when the case that they planned to put the body in proves to be too small, they chop it up and then place the severed pieces into the case and drop it out of the side. Unfortunately for them, it lands right beside a fishing boat, prompting the police to stop the train and investigate. When a detective elects to remain aboard, his fate is sealed. When the man with the box’s friend comes aboard, things get really strange and the secrets of the box are exposed.
This movie is fantastic. Steve Zahn is great in everything that he does, but not THAT THING YOU DO if you follow me. Wow, I hate that movie. Did I ever tell you the time my ex girlfriend dragged me to that movie? No, well, she did and it was horrible. I nearly gave up on Zahn there, but he has been outstanding ever since and in this movie he proves to be the quirky and likable guy as he usually is. Sobieski is amazing as well and although I think that they are casting her in similar roles in each and every flick, she does excel and may have given her best performance here. And Glover rules. We know that.
I highly recommend NIGHT TRAIN, a movie that will compel you from the go and really shows the darker side of human nature really well. I loved it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10. Glover Lover in the Night Train.
