• Tony Scott’s relentlessly kinetic camera creates fabulous action-film mosaic – auteur cinema, star-driven cinema (courtesy of Denzel and Chris Pine) and fine entertainment
  • Sadly this fine film- maybe Scott’s best—was his list film- he passed away in 2012
  • Very specific with the many locations (often in moving crane shots) in Pennsylvania, adds elements of realism – and again an important strand of the montage mixture from Scott
  • Very low ASL- average shot length. Scott builds his films in the editing room. There’s a motion in most shots as well- often whipping from left to right across the screen and these mini camera zooms within or mixed it (sometimes both)- there aren’t the long lingering zooms like Altman, Death in Venice or The Conversation—these are like jabs
  • Helicopters (and helicopter shots), cop cars, onlookers gawking at the potential (literal) train-wreck the control room, news reporters, TV footage, phones, all give Scott different perspectives to bounce off of
Helicopters (and helicopter shots), cop cars, onlookers gawking at the potential (literal) train-wreck the control room, news reporters, TV footage, phones, all give Scott different perspectives to bounce off of
  • Hard not to think of the poetry of the moving train and drama back and forth and think of Buster Keaton’s The General – set piece magnificence in both films
  • Rosario Dawson is very good as the sort of Ed Harris in Apollo 13 control room pulse of the film role
  • Love the train-specific vernacular – “coaster” and others
  • Manipulation of time and space over and again like Spielberg does so well or Dunkirk– a series of deadlines
  • It’s not Bunuel or Godard but there’s a decent comment here from Tony Scott on the stock devaluation with the guys on the golf course playing god
  • A tight, compact 98 minutes
  • Denzel is confident, heroic, intelligent- perfect and it’s a compliment to Chris Pine that he’s not completely left in Denzel’s wake
Denzel is confident, heroic, intelligent- perfect and it’s a compliment to Chris Pine that he’s not completely left in Denzel’s wake
  • Highly Recommend- top 10 of the year quality film