The Railway Man
2/4
Starring: Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jeremy Irvine, Stellan Skarsgaard, Sam Reid, Tanroh Ishida, Hiroyuki Sanada
Rated R for Disturbing Prisoner of War Violence
This review contains spoilers. I try to avoid spoiling anything, but here it's necessary to give a little more information than I usually do. That being said, I don't think it will have much of an impact on the viewing experience if you read the whole review before you see the film.
When we study wars in history class, or see war movies, we like to think that once the white flag goes up, it's all over. Win or lose, you go home and live your life. We know that that's not the case, but it gives us comfort.
Few movies take the time to remember this. I haven't seen "The Best Years of Our Lives," arguably one of the first, and definitely most famous, movies to look at the emotional scars of war, but I did see "In the Valley of Elah," which was haunting and sad, but its emotional impact was limited due to the fact that Tommy Lee Jones was completely miscast. "The Railway Man" seeks to do the same thing, but sadly, it has even less success.
Eric Lomax (Firth) is a quiet man living in England in 1980. He keeps to himself, even when hanging with the guys at the club for war vets. He has a fascination for trains, which leads him to meet a woman named Patti Wallace (Kidman). They fall in love and are soon married. But Eric endured horrible things during the war, and even after 40 years, he's been unable to get over them. Patti is desperate to help him, but as Finlay (Skarsgaard), Eric's old superior officer, tells her, she will never understand. She's determined to help him, however, and may get her chance when Finlay finds that Tagashi Nagase (Sanada), the man who tortured Eric mercilessly is in fact still alive. Eric sets out to meet with him.
"The Railway Man," which is based on a true story, is a powerful story, and it's one that needs to be told. But the film version of it feels shallow, sanitized and pedestrian. There's little depth to this film, and what complexity there is is ruined by the melodramatic way it is presented. The questions it asks and the conclusions it comes up with are ones that we have all seen before, and director Jonathan Teplitzky doesn't do anything special with them.
The film's biggest problem is Colin Firth. In the right role, such as Bertie in "The King's Speech" or the "stiff Brit" stereotype that made him famous, he can be a great actor. But Firth's range is limited (according to James Berardinelli, he made a laughable action hero in "The Last Legion"). There are moments when he is effective, but they are few. Nicole Kidman doesn't have much to do but play the worried wife, which is a shame because she's quite good here. Jeremy Irvine makes for a much better Eric Lomax, although he's arguably a little too restrained. Stellan Skarsgard is his usual reliable self as the older Finlay, although his character is more or less a cliche. Sam Reid, the actor who plays his younger self, is very, very good. The best performance goes to Hiroyuki Sanada, a Japanese actor who did solid work in small roles in movies like "Speed Racer" and "The Last Samurai." Sadly, Teplitzky fails to capture the power of his performance.
It's obvious that Jonathan Teplitzky is trying to ape Steven Spielberg here. He's not trying to make "Schindler's List," but he is going for the grand manipulation that Spielberg is famous for. Unfortunately, he keeps missing the mark; the violence and brutality lacks intensity and immediacy and the big emotional moments come across as overwrought and cheesy.
The script is also very, very shallow. Teplitzky and the screenwriters seem to be content to stay on the surface. The characters are stick figures, and the situations they find themselves in are attacked with little vigor.
Then there's the film's central villain. When we finally find out what happened to Eric, we learn that the man who has haunted him for 25 years didn't actually inflict any violence on him. He was just asking question while someone else put him through unendurable suffering. This is an instance where some dramatic license should have been taken.
All in all, the only word I can use to describe "The Railway Man" is "disappointing."
Starring: Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jeremy Irvine, Stellan Skarsgaard, Sam Reid, Tanroh Ishida, Hiroyuki Sanada
Rated R for Disturbing Prisoner of War Violence
This review contains spoilers. I try to avoid spoiling anything, but here it's necessary to give a little more information than I usually do. That being said, I don't think it will have much of an impact on the viewing experience if you read the whole review before you see the film.
When we study wars in history class, or see war movies, we like to think that once the white flag goes up, it's all over. Win or lose, you go home and live your life. We know that that's not the case, but it gives us comfort.
Few movies take the time to remember this. I haven't seen "The Best Years of Our Lives," arguably one of the first, and definitely most famous, movies to look at the emotional scars of war, but I did see "In the Valley of Elah," which was haunting and sad, but its emotional impact was limited due to the fact that Tommy Lee Jones was completely miscast. "The Railway Man" seeks to do the same thing, but sadly, it has even less success.
Eric Lomax (Firth) is a quiet man living in England in 1980. He keeps to himself, even when hanging with the guys at the club for war vets. He has a fascination for trains, which leads him to meet a woman named Patti Wallace (Kidman). They fall in love and are soon married. But Eric endured horrible things during the war, and even after 40 years, he's been unable to get over them. Patti is desperate to help him, but as Finlay (Skarsgaard), Eric's old superior officer, tells her, she will never understand. She's determined to help him, however, and may get her chance when Finlay finds that Tagashi Nagase (Sanada), the man who tortured Eric mercilessly is in fact still alive. Eric sets out to meet with him.
"The Railway Man," which is based on a true story, is a powerful story, and it's one that needs to be told. But the film version of it feels shallow, sanitized and pedestrian. There's little depth to this film, and what complexity there is is ruined by the melodramatic way it is presented. The questions it asks and the conclusions it comes up with are ones that we have all seen before, and director Jonathan Teplitzky doesn't do anything special with them.
The film's biggest problem is Colin Firth. In the right role, such as Bertie in "The King's Speech" or the "stiff Brit" stereotype that made him famous, he can be a great actor. But Firth's range is limited (according to James Berardinelli, he made a laughable action hero in "The Last Legion"). There are moments when he is effective, but they are few. Nicole Kidman doesn't have much to do but play the worried wife, which is a shame because she's quite good here. Jeremy Irvine makes for a much better Eric Lomax, although he's arguably a little too restrained. Stellan Skarsgard is his usual reliable self as the older Finlay, although his character is more or less a cliche. Sam Reid, the actor who plays his younger self, is very, very good. The best performance goes to Hiroyuki Sanada, a Japanese actor who did solid work in small roles in movies like "Speed Racer" and "The Last Samurai." Sadly, Teplitzky fails to capture the power of his performance.
It's obvious that Jonathan Teplitzky is trying to ape Steven Spielberg here. He's not trying to make "Schindler's List," but he is going for the grand manipulation that Spielberg is famous for. Unfortunately, he keeps missing the mark; the violence and brutality lacks intensity and immediacy and the big emotional moments come across as overwrought and cheesy.
The script is also very, very shallow. Teplitzky and the screenwriters seem to be content to stay on the surface. The characters are stick figures, and the situations they find themselves in are attacked with little vigor.
Then there's the film's central villain. When we finally find out what happened to Eric, we learn that the man who has haunted him for 25 years didn't actually inflict any violence on him. He was just asking question while someone else put him through unendurable suffering. This is an instance where some dramatic license should have been taken.
All in all, the only word I can use to describe "The Railway Man" is "disappointing."
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