Evasive Action

For me, the best part of this runaway train disaster, was the closing credits, where you get to understand just how many interesting character actors are totally wasted by the ridiculous script. Let's start with Roy Scheider, as a Mafia boss. Then there is Don Swaze, Clint Howard, Ed O'Ross, and Ray Wise, all lost in the cartoon-like goings on. You have a train. You have the bad guys taking over the train. You have the train eventually crashing into Los Angeles Union Station, yet everyone in the station seems oblivious to the fact that a locomotive has just torn through half the terminal. Hero, Dorian Harewood, jumps off the speeding train with no ill effects, steals a dirt bike, and somehow gets back on the train without a misstep. The weak attempts at levity, especially with the control room operator, are pathetic. Then there is the damaged helicopter, which somehow manages to get a cop onto the roof of the train, before disappearing behind a hill in flames. I could go on and on. The intriguing cast is absolutely the only reason to see this, but only if you are prepared for the ridiculous script. - MERK