The terrorist thriller “The 15:17 to Paris” (*** OUT OF ****)
recreates the chaos aboard the Amsterdam-to-Paris train on 21 August 2015, when
three American tourists foiled an armed and dangerous fanatic from killing more
500 unsuspecting passengers. Anybody else but director Clint Eastwood
would have turned this ruckus into the equivalent of “Saving Private Ryan” on rails.
Instead, the director of “American Sniper” and “Sully” has adopted an entirely
different tactic. Not only has he cast the ‘real-life heroes’ who saved
the day as themselves, but he has also lensed it with a documentary like
realism to underline the credibility of the incident. Indeed, those
‘real-life heroes’ (Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler,
and Spencer Stone) play themselves. Mind you, none of them will take home
Oscars, but casting them gives “The 15:17 to Paris” a verisimilitude that would
be sorely missing. Furthermore, the American-born Frenchman Mark
Moogalian, who initially disarmed Ayoub El-Khazzani before the terrorist plugged
him in the back, played himself, too! Critics have argued that 87-year
old Eastwood has wrought a routine, perhaps even a tedious tale that spends too
much time leading up to the headline heroics. They have complained the
casting the ‘real-life heroes’ deprives the film of the gravitas that seasoned
actors might have generated with their charisma.
Too many critics have scorned the brilliant simplicity of
Eastwood’s approach and misunderstood his commentary about heroism that has
little to do with ersatz Hollywood heroics. Ironically, despite their
training, these tourists—two of whom are servicemen—were average nobodies.
The audacity and bravery that they displayed during a moment of crisis when
everything could have gone horribly wrong makes them doubly heroic.
Eastwood seems to be saying that being at the right place at the right time
under the right conditions can make anybody into a hero. Spencer Stone
stands out among the three because everything that prepared him for this date
with destiny is shown from the time that he was a juvenile waging paintball war
games with his buddies. Eastwood and first-time scenarist Dorothy Blyskal
do a splendid job of foreshadowing the action, the only flaw is their decision
to treat Ayoub El-Khazzani as a flat, one-dimensional terrorist without a
backstory. Nevertheless, the filmmakers haven’t vilified him as a Satanic
architect of malevolence and the scourge of humanity. Presumably, had
“The 15:17 to Paris” been more of a melodramatic exercise in fire and fury like
“Saving Private Ryan” on a train, the film might have garnered the filmmakers’
greater accolades.
“The 15:17 to Paris” occurs in flashbacks interspersed with glimpses
of ISIS extremist Ayoub El-Khazzani boarding the train, suiting up in a
restroom, and then embarking on a murderous shooting spree. Meantime,
Eastwood and Blyskal show how the two white kids—Spencer Stone and Alek
Skarlatos—crossed paths with African-American student Anthony Sadler at their
local Christian High School in Sacramento, California. Sadler was leaving
the office of Principal Michael Akers (Thomas Lennon of “Night at the Museum”)
for disciplinary reasons. No sooner had they met Sadler than Akers warned
them to avoid him because he constituted a bad influence. Alek and
Spencer were facing disciplinary action themselves for loitering at their
lockers after the bell had rung. A hall monitor demanded to see their
hall passes and then sent them to Akers. Not long after their initial
encounter with Sadler, Alek and Spencer find themselves in trouble again with
Akers. Spencer and Alek would forge lifelong friendship with Sadler out
of the crucible of school disobedience. Ostensibly, the plot focuses
primarily on Spencer after Alex leaves Sacramento to live with his estranged
father in Oregon. The action jumps ahead after they graduate from high
school. Eventually, Spencer sets out to join the ranks of the U.S. Air
Force’s elite Para-Rescue. Unfortunately, Spencer’s lack of depth perception
disqualifies him. He has no better luck with the Air Force’s SERE
(survival, evasion, resistance, and escape) Program. Similarly, he fares
no better training to be an EMT. Meantime, taciturn Alek has joined the
Oregon National Guard. He serves in Afghanistan, finds it rather
monotonous, and compares himself to a mall cop. Alek’s scenes make “The
15:17 to Paris” look like a companion piece to Eastwood’s exemplary combat epic
“American Sniper” (2014) about real-life Navy S.E.A.L. shooter Chris Kyle.
Eventually, the three guys reunite and head off on a backpacking trip of
European capitals. Impatient audiences may grow restless with this laid-back
hike that takes our heroes from Venice, Italy, to Germany, Amsterdam, and then
Paris. At one point, while they are sightseeing in Venice, Spencer
confides in Sadler, “You ever just feel like life is just pushing us towards
something?” What you don’t notice is the sly way that Clint Eastwood has
set audiences up for what ensues on the train. Spencer subdued the lone
gunman not only because he had mastered jiu-jitsu, but he also saved wounded Frenchman
Mark Moogalian’s life because of his training as an EMT. Eastwood deliberately
gives the scenes from the lives of our heroes a casual nonchalance before he
plunges them into the actual fracas aboard the train.
As actors, Stone, Sadler, and Skarlatos leave something to be
desired, but they don’t bump into each other or blow their lines. Since
they aren’t professionals, they seem self-conscious about their body language
and dialogue. No, this isn’t the first time Hollywood has resorted to real
McCoys. World War II hero Audie Murphy reenacted his Medal of Honor
exploits in “To Hell and Back” in 1955. Sports celebrities have portrayed
themselves, such as Bronx bomber Babe Ruth in “The Pride of the Yankees” (1942)
as well as African-American ballplayer Jackie Robinson in “The Jackie Robinson
Story” (1950). Real-life Marine Staff Sergeant Lee Emery became a popular
character actor after he appeared in Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal
Jacket.” Likewise, genuine Navy SEALS portrayed themselves in “Act of
Valor” (2012). Altogether, Eastwood stages a gripping reenactment of the
autobiographical events depicted in Jeffrey E. Stern’s 2016 factual bestseller
“The 15:17 to Paris.”
