This movie is an A+ for (almost) any high school’s final for a film class. But in Hollywood with Clint Eastwood directing? The movie falls way short of an A+.
The movie depicts the three real life heroes, Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos, who stopped a terrorist attack in Paris in 2015, but that by no means makes them good actors. There are times where the acting makes it feel like a parody of the actual movie.
The movie begins with the three characters as children. Stone and Skarlatos are best friends and are trying to fit in at a new school. When they get in trouble and are sent to the principal’s office, they meet Sadler, a regular visitor to the office. They all become best friends once they are sent to the office, together, again that day.
The movie features less than 5 minutes of action, unless you count the scene from when the three friends were children playing war with airsoft guns. That scene might have been better since there were no flashbacks that told you exactly what was going to happen. The same can’t be said for the climax. Even the trailer shows you exactly what’s going to happen in the movie.
The most exciting scene outside of the climax (and maybe including the climax) was when Skarlatos’s mother, played by Jenna Fischer aka Pam Beesly, is forced to make him move back with his dad and I thought Jim might come pick him up.
Most of the scenes in the movie don’t move the plot. If you took out all the scenes while they were traveling in Europe, the movie would be exactly the same. It was 10 minutes of Sadler and Stone walking around taking selfies. There’s another scene where the mothers of Stone and Skarlatos are speaking to the children’s teacher about ADD and medications.
The only time when there is a real plot to a scene – and the only time there is any real action – is during the five-minute climax when *SPOILER ALERT* the three guys take down the terrorist on the train. This scene is the only point in the movie it seems like Eastwood had any influence.
Special Features:
• Making Every Second Count
o The three main characters talk about how the incident went down moment-by-moment.
• Portrait of Courage
o Eastwood talks about why he chose to cast the actual heroes and what parts of the incident inspired him to create the film.
These special features add to a movie that needs a lot of additions. You get a better sense of the story after watching these. Since there is very little surprise in the movie already, I would even recommend watching these first.
These three guys are true American heroes and I could never even imagine going through what they did, and I thank them for their bravery. However, I did not like this movie. These guys are not actors and I don’t think that the story should’ve been turned into a 90-minute narrative. An interview with the heroes would’ve been just fine if not better.
