Money Train (1995)

	Director: Joseph Ruben	COUNTRY USA Genre Action NORWEGIAN TITLE Money Train RUNNING TIME 103 minutes
	Producer: Neil Canton Jon Peters
	Screenwriter: David Loughery Doug Richardson

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
John	Wesley Snipes	½
Charlie	Woody Harrelson	½
Grace Santiago	Jennifer Lopez	½
Donald Patterson	Robert Blake
Torch	Chris Cooper

Review

During the mid-1990s, a set of action films emerged in which the heroes were more talkative and cheeky than before, and the action set-pieces were bigger and faster-moving, but still not completely dominated by CGI effects. Among the films belonging to this tradition were John Woo's Broken Arrow and this fairly enjoyable flick directed by Joseph Ruben. The epicentre of Money Train, in addition to the fast-moving vehicle of the title, is the unlikely brotherhood of Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson – given both heart, soul, and wit by the two ephemeral stars' sympathetic performances. The film is also well directed, with Ruben giving his urban images a warmth that befits the story, which, of course, ends up just as ridiculous as you'd expect or fear. It's not so much the flurried finale that mars the film as the idiotic antagonist, played with such animosity by Robert Blake that his personality far surpasses his actions or lines. He and his precious train are so over-the-top that they effectively eradicate the buddy-movie feeling created during the film's first half. If only the script had evolved more around the brilliant Chris Cooper rather than the ridiculous Robert Blake. Money Train is quite fun – up until a certain point, after which I too start thinking about sneaking off with Jennifer Lopez and just leaving the guys and their train to it.