Alistair MacLean's Death Train

I first watched this movie when I was 15. I saw it at the video store and I thought: Hey! Captain Pickard is in it, so it must be good. Although this is not an Oscar-winning film, it is an interesting film for those that are into movies that have Cold War elements to it. The collection of actors is excellent. Some may find the plot of a nuclear bomb on a hijacked train to be an absurd plot since everyone wants to know why the bad guys didn't fly it. If you pay attention to the movie, you are told why. In my opinion, the only thing that this movie lacked was realism, especially with the gunfights. Hey, I have seen worse movies though. Overall, I would suggest you buy this movie if you find it. It is not in production anymore, and it is easy to watch with a bag of buttered popcorn. Enjoy:)

This movie is about a train carrying neclear weapons across Europe. The nations of the world try to stop it from delivering it's deadly cargo. It was an OK rental considering it was made for TV. If you like the James Bond of the 1990's(pierce Bronsan), you might like this movie!!Otherwise avoid it unless you are desperate at the video store and cannot find anything to rent!!

With such a strong cast, one would like to assume that the movie would be good. However, lame is the word that comes to mind. I am surprised Brosnan would do such a poor film. The story itself was great, but the screen writer/directs and whoever else is ultimately responsible should be shot. I will admit that I watched the entire movie, because I never gave up hope that it would get better. It reminds me of Segal movies, all of which seem to follow this line of thinking, which does not seem to be completely developed! Shame on Patrick Stewart as well. Another fine actor who was tarnished by this movie. I can only hope that some or all of these actors were fulfilling some type of contractual agreements to participate in this film.

As a TV film from the early 90's, this is probably the best what you can get. It has some very good and famous actors such as Pierce Brosnan, Patrick Stewart and Cristopher Lee, names you won't easily find from a such movie. The story is about a nuclear weapon being transported on a hijacked train by a mercenary group. Their destination is Iraq. A special task force, UNACO is sent to stop them. The team makes several attempts to succeed, meaning the film has lot of action. Pierce Brosnan fits perfectly for the hero's Bond like role and Cristopher Lee isn't bad at all as a rogue general. Maybe not worth of buying but definitely worth of seeing. I'll give it seven out of ten.

I wasn't expecting much from this film but it surprised me. Yes the budget was small, but the acting surprised me, as did the story. The characters had enough development to keep me engaged, Patrick Stewart added his refined seniority, Pierce Brosnan acted the foolhardy gung-ho very well (a preview of his bond days to come). Not brilliant, but deserves more stars than it has. I suspect the low rating has more to do with the cover art and age than the actual content. In short: if you like a predictable action film pitting good against evil (USA vs Russians hehe) this one is worth checking out. The characters are more than two-dimensional, breaking out of the stereotypes one would expect of a direct-to-VHS feature. Give it a look!

TV thriller made in the early ninties starring heavyweights such as "Pierce Brosnan" desperate for a Bond type actionner (yet can't seem to handle any action sequence), Christopher Lee (in perhaps his most boring role ever) and Patrick Stewart (who appears to be doing this for the money). Chris Lee is funding the transportation of a nuclear warhead to Iraq so that he can lead the Russians to re-claim the warhead by conquering Iraq (despite the fact that Russia were in league with Iraqis anyway - that's why the US funded Iraq's leadership at the time with chemical weaponary, etc). The plot is paperthin, I still don't understand why the a-bomb has to be transported via train. I don't understand how doing a "media" job will allow Chris Lee's "Iron" man of Russia to become a leader for Russia. The train also keeps stopping, the SWAT team are silly and there are too many breaks for obilitary adverts for Coca-Cola or Pepsi, or whatever the hell that Baywatch lady drinks. Its too long, too boring and annoying. Overall: 1/10.

It might have been made for TV but it's certainly not your standard made for TV fodder. Firstly let's talk about the cast. Christopher Lee - Movie Superstar of Hammer Films. Patrick Stewart, star of TV, stage and cinema. Pierce Brosnan, Movie Superstar. Alexandra Paul, of TV's Baywatch. Ted Levine I thought was someone else, I mistook him for Martin Mull. The basic idea is good enough, someone steals some plutonium, builds 2 bombs, put 1 on hijacked train travelling across Europe and involve a rogue Russian General trying to restart the ghosts of the Cold War. Christopher Lee plays the rogue Russian General extremely well, you can tell he's playing by his own rules. Patrick Stewart is playing a pretty standard role for him here, it's an authority figure in command. Someone had obviously seen him in Star Trek and thought of him for this role. They maybe also saw him in this which made them think of him for X-men. Brosnan plays his basic action man role but also has a streak of lovable impish rogue to Alexandra Paul's very straight laced role. We have a Russian traitor in the unit which smacks of hatred for the old enemy, sadly it seems from the US film industry no matter how friendly The West is with The Russians their never far from detecting Reds Under The Bed. There's lots of good action, helicopters chasing trains. Defusing bombs. Slightly rubbish mercenaries. Overall the film is really good and exceeds the usual fair of Made For TV. Well worth a look if you haven't seen it and stands up to several viewings as well.

Anyone watching this film because Alistair Maclean's name is on it will be sorely let down. A weak plot involving stolen nukes is nothing you haven't seen before, done better. Some of the acting (Brosnan, Stewart and Paul) is good, but Ted Levine is simply laughable as the secondary antagonist. His silly redneck character weakens any threat to his scenes with Brosnan. The venerable Christopher Lee is rather miscast as an evil Russian mastermind. Action scenes and photography are OK, but the editing, music and direction are dull. I also found it funny that it is some sort of UN team that goes after the nukes, where in real life it would be the Navy Seals or Delta Force that would be sent to deal with this train (and would certainly do a better job).

The Death Train is a part political thriller/Hostage drama that balances the mix very well on both terms. General Konstantin Benin is a Russian Commander who desires the rebirth of Mother Russia, and the only way to do this is to deliver a bomb to Saddam Hussein by rail from Hamburg (Or somewhere in Deutschland) to the heart of Iraq. Benin Hires Alex Tierney, an American mercenary to deliver this Nuclear warhead, but he must do this via a train full of hostages. Trying to stop him is NATO Puppet master Malcolm Philpott and his Lackeys, Rugged hero Mike Graham and Green Sabrina Carver. You might think at first that this film is resolved in patches of messy violent; this is simply not the case. It certainly isn't very violent and there are few tense shootouts that may actually put people off at first. There is also pretty decent directing, too. The scene where Benin turns away from the phone booth reminded me of The Exorcist, the Silence of the lambs and Ronin all in one go. Of course the movie does end in violence and actually ends on a poor high. The final action sequence is a real letdown unfortunately. As the movie goes on, most of the bad guys all end up getting shot dead by Sabrina for some reason. It would have been better to see a fight between Tierney and Graham, but that's that. And besides that would have put this film into B-List Jet Li Territory. The characters are quite well developed really. Mike Graham is your typical action type, played by a rather bland Pierce Brosnan in his pre Bond Years. It's good that he got rid of his sasquatch style from the Lawnmower man. Patrick Stewart is good as Philpott, the head of the NATO operation and Alexandra Paul is feisty and very sexy as Sabrina. Unfortunately, Christopher Lee, a film ledged is wasted in a surprisingly small role. A little more development of his character would have been nice and Ted Levine who chilled us as The Evil; Buffalo Bill, is decently cast as Tierney but could have been a little more chilling. At the end of the day he couldn't scare a kid. As it is, Death Train is a superior cheap movie. It won't win any Oscars but it was nice while it lasted. C+

This film has a lot going for it: A simple, but nonetheless engaging, plot, cool action sequences and some fantastic casting. Patrick Stewart and Christopher Lee are, it almost goes without saying, superb. Alexandra Paul really should get more lead roles and Ted Levine makes a pretty good bad guy. Top marks, though, go to Pierce Brosnan. Despite having to deliver some truly awful dialogue in places he brings the role off to perfection. His "Mike Graham" could be James Bond using a pseudonym (although without the gadgets), and it's no wonder that he went on to become the best Bond so far (and yes I do remember Connery). This film rates up there with True Lies and The Rock as one of those films that sort of is a Bond film really, even tho' it isn't.