Express in die Hölle

I wouldn't expect this from Konchalovsky, a very good thriller with brilliant performances. B-movie king Eric Roberts could enjoy his only Oscar nomination. (19.06.2002)

A riveting thrill ride that benefits from two things in particular: 1) Konchalovsky’s conception of the limited space of the train, where the tension is heightened by the cuts to the control center, which creates more obstacles and problems, 2) the excellently written and acted characters of the prisoners and guards, for whom it is quite an issue to feel any sympathy, given their nature. The result is an uncompromising flick whose appeal, even after more than twenty years, is mainly due to the irresistible boyish feeling of hard adventure, as is the case for the films made by Frankenheimer or Carpenter. In fact, the traditional synth music references the latter. A classic. (03.09.2009)

Four runaway locomotives, two fugitives and the endless expanse of snow. A picture that works in all scenes that take place on the train itself. It also has a very powerful ending, good actors and a decently set atmosphere of unwelcoming wilderness and a situation with no way out. But what takes Runaway Train down, a lot way down, is the B-standard evil prison guard character and almost all the scenes from the command station. They needlessly interrupt the viewer experience. They would have done better to focus fully just on the rising tension in the uncontrollable train. Even so, mainly thanks to the ending, this is an excellent movie experience. (03.09.2007)

Cannon Films may have been celebrated as a factory churning out trashy dreams, but in its time, it heralded some of the trends that would turn up in Hollywood in the new millennium. We can describe one of its most critically successful titles as a forerunner of the trend involving the hiring of filmmakers with a distinctive creative signature and character actors for big-budget action projects. Soviet national artist and prominent filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky longed to work in Hollywood and his dream was fulfilled by the head of Cannon Films, Menahem Golan. In return for that, Konchalovsky was the only one of a number of filmmaking greats for whom Cannon financed original projects to work repeatedly for the company – in total, he made four movies for Cannon. Runaway Train adheres to the format of a standard blockbuster with the three-level “the book, the hook, the look” concept. For viewers, the hook was the involvement of a renowned director and a magnificent cast led by Jon Voight and the talented young actors Eric Roberts and Rebecca De Mornay. The film’s distinctive look was provided by the setting of the story in a frozen Alaskan wasteland and the tense reportage shooting style. The film’s source work was Akira Kurosawa’s acclaimed screenplay based on an actual event that took place in 1962, when four coupled locomotives went out of control and dashed along the tracks of New York State. In collaboration with screenwriter Paul Zindel, Konchalovsky transformed Kurosawa’s script for a straightforward thriller into a thrilling parable about freedom, brutality and humanity. It was also Konchalovsky who decided to move the action to Alaska and to give priority to the characters of escaped criminals by adding prison scenes, which were polished for the screen by Edward Bunker, a writer with first-hand experience with maximum security prisons. To this day, Runaway Train has lost none of its impressiveness, breadth of meaning or its fierce pacing and suspense. Furthermore, it is fascinating as a rare ideal combination of absorbing spectacle with a superstructure comprising a creative approach that manages to distil its potential, which goes far beyond traditional genre categories. (03.09.2015)

An excellent thriller with a great atmosphere of despair. Simple but fundamentally a story of genius: A runaway train with two escaped convicts, with no chance of stopping in the wilderness of Alaska. Lunatic Manny is one of the best roles Jon Voight ever played and Eric Roberts gives the performance of his life (nomination for an Oscar). And the ending... (11.11.2006)

The icy atmosphere is fantastic, very depressing and real. Jon Voight is also excellent, as long as he doesn’t go into emotions, where he doesn’t feel authentic but rather awkward. Rebecca De Mornay, on the other hand, delivers not just overacting but the highest level of embarrassment. There were several moments where the dialogues between the main trio felt very artificial and hard to believe, something that hasn't happened to me in a long time with a movie. As a suspenseful thriller, however, it is acceptable primarily thanks to the direction and the original idea. It is hard to imagine the harsh and snowy landscape of Alaska as a backdrop better utilized than it was done here. (27.09.2008)

Sure, the story and a bit of the execution is B-grade, but the acting, the dynamic editing, and last but not least the unstoppable runaway train give it a very convincing mask of refined action spectacle. Konchalovsky didn't sweat much on the director's chair, but the film is all the more brisk and emotionally striking in the end. If you fancy switching off for 100 minutes and a splash of blood here and there won't upset you, don’t hesitate. 75% (02.03.2013)

Als vor ein paar Tagen der Song Runaway Train von Soul Asylum im Radio lief, dachte ich mir, wie passend es wäre, den gleichnamigen Abenteuerfilm nochmal anzuschauen. Der Film, bei dem man all die Schauer und von Eisen zerquetschten Finger spüren wird, verwandelt das gewöhnliche Gefängnisausbruchsszenario in einen originellen "Survival-Film" mit einem wilden gepanzerten Zug und einer bemerkenswerten manischen schauspielerischen Leistung von Jon Voight in der Hauptrolle. Eric Roberts und Rebecca De Mornay unterstützen ihn hier gekonnt. Mit der unkonventionellen Regie von Andrei Konchalovsky und dem Originaldrehbuch von Akira Kurosawa wirkt dieser Film wie eine Offenbarung in der Produktion des Studios Cannon Films. Stilvolle und eisige Action, die unter die Haut geht. (02.02.2020)