Last Passenger
Starring: Dougray Scott, Kara Tointon, Lindsay Duncan, Iddo Goldberg
Director: Omid Nooshin
Rating: 3/5
Omid Nooshin is set to make his feature-film directorial debut this week with Last Passenger: a film that blends elements of action, mystery and thriller.
Nooshin has been behind a string of short projects in the past and has now assembled a fine cast for this feature debut.
Lewis Shaler (Scott) is an overworked doctor and devoted single dad heading home with his young son Max on the last train from London.
When he strikes up a relationship with a beautiful and flirtatious stranger (Tointon) Lewis believes life is finally looking up. But events then take a dark turn when Lewis discovers the guard has mysteriously vanished and the brakes have been sabotaged.
Unknown to the handful of remaining passengers, a vengeful sociopath has taken control of the train and is hell-bent on crashing it, taking his passengers with him to the grave.
Nooshin has made an incredibly solid action/thriller that has tried to be different to other films in this genre.
Nooshin has cleverly used the absence of a monster/baddie to great effect; the audience never knows who is trying to maim them or their motive. This faceless enemy allows the audience to create their own villain, and this makes the film even more tense.
Last Passenger is set completely on a train, and that gives the film an incredibly claustrophobic feel: the characters really do have no where to run.
We so often see movies like this go for cheap gore and thrills, but Nooshin has cleverly stayed away from this and has chosen to focus on the dramatic side of the story.
So instead of blood and guts and horrible CGI, he has created a tense and rather gripping film. In the first third of the film, you really get to know the central characters, and when things start to go wrong, you genuinely care about what happens to them.
Dougray Scott gives are strong central performance as Lewis Shaler, a man who is driven by the desire to try to protect his young son.
This is not a role that pushes Scott to any great degree, but he really is the heart of this film and drives it forward.
Nooshin has delivered a strong action/thriller that is not afraid to stay away from the cliches that we so often see in a film in this genre. I am looking forward to seeing what the director does next.
Last Passenger is out now.
Tagged in Dougray Scott