"THE 15:17 TO PARIS"......CLINT'S REAL HEROES GO AHEAD AND MAKE HIS DAY.......

The 15:17 To Paris (2018)   No question, as 88 years old, Clint Eastwood stands as an international living legend and cinema treasure.......

               No other director that we know of turned single-minded efficiency into artistry........

               Sure, there's plenty of other directors who assemble films as fast as Eastwood......asking a limited number of takes from their actors, swiftly composing their shots and shooting the film within 6 weeks or less.....

                But Eastwood's one of the few directors who could make films that way and have them come out looking like they'd been in meticulous, lengthy production for a year or more......

                 But that doesn't always work out for him.....or us as viewers.

                Sometimes, Eastwood's movies too easily display the haste and minimal thought and preparation that went into them.

                 They still look good........after several lifetimes of filmmaking, Eastwood's never less than supremely professional. But you can't help wondering how much better they might have turned out if Eastwood did a little more with his actors than mumble (per Tom Hanks)...."okay, that's enough" when they finished their first or second take.

                 In a striking, bold move, Eastwood cast the actual three young American men who overcame a gun-toting Islamic terrorist on an express train from Amsterdam to Paris.  (Well, why not.....he's Climt Eastwood and can do whatever the hell he wants)

                There's ample precedent for casting public figures as themselves.......(the primary example that relates to this film would be 1955's "To Hell And Back" with most-decorated U.S. soldier Audie Murphy playing himself and re-enacting his amazing World War II battle exploits)

                 The positives:  The three heroes (Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler, Spencer Stone), under Eastwood's direction, acquit themselves with all the dignity, honesty and easy likability you'd expect from such brave, exemplary men.   They're the real deal.......literally.

                 And the terrorist takedown on the train is staged with all the harrowing action and suspense you know Eastwood is more than capable of........a breathless, wrenching 15 minutes or so......

                The negatives:  Eastwood never really found a proper way to build a full feature-length movie around this event. Forced to fill up about another 70 minutes,he tries killing time with clumsy flashbacks to his heroes'  childhoods and then has his threesome, as adults, duplicate their wandering tour through Europe.

                 So until these guys get on the train, the movie's going nowhere.

                 No doubt Eastwood brought all his legendary efficiency to the movie.......but not much else.......which is why "The 15:17 To Paris never becomes anything more than a odd little stunt in the Eastwood filmography.

                 2 & 1/2 stars (**1/2) for the film's last third. You can start watching it around the 65 minute mark and enjoy the best of it.......