Tonight's Movie: Last Passenger (2013) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

The excellent suspense film LAST PASSENGER (2013) has just been released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber and Cohen Media Group. It's part of Cohen's "Contemporary Classics" line.

LAST PASSENGER was recommended to me a while back by my friend Kristina, who knows that I like train movies as well as the occasional modern action movie, provided the action isn't disturbingly violent.

LAST PASSENGER worked well for me on both counts. It's rated R, but that's mostly for the abundant use of the "F" word; while I always prefer such language not be used, this is the rare film where it's not simply gratuitous but actually makes some sense in the tense context, so I was willing to let it pass.

I enjoyed LAST PASSENGER from its exciting initial shots of a train hurtling down the tracks. The movie uses the classic trope of a disparate group of travelers united by a common threat. In this case, the group are the last passengers on a late-night train out of London who gradually realize strange things are happening.

Dr. Lewis Shaler (Dougray Scott) observes some odd things on the track when the train makes a station stop, after which the train doesn't make its next scheduled stops. The conductor (Samuel Geker-Kawle) disappears...the pull cord emergency brakes don't work...and the ominously silent engineer refuses to answer the intercom.

Also on board the train are the doctor's young son, Max (Joshua Kaynama); lovely Sarah (Kara Tointon), who connects with both the widowed doctor and his little boy; Jan (Iddo Goldberg), an initially obnoxious young man with magician skills; brusque Peter Carmichael (David Schofield), a "rule follower" initially confident that the police will handle everything if they're just patient; and Elaine (Lindsay Duncan), a sweet older lady going home with Christmas gifts for her grandchildren.

Yes, along with everything else, it's also a Christmas movie! However, that aspect is extremely minimal.

The movie does an excellent job simultaneously developing the characters while ratcheting up the suspense, as the passengers slowly come to realize that they're in serious danger. Then: What, if anything, can they do to avoid being smashed to bits at the end of the line? It's an engrossing 97 minutes.

Scott and Tointon are both very likeable as the couple who "meet cute" on the train and seem destined for a possible future. A couple years later Tointon was cast as Maria in the live UK TV version of THE SOUND OF MUSIC (2015), and one can see why in part due to her believably motherly attitude towards young Max in this film. I recorded that SOUND OF MUSIC production off U.S. public television a few years back but haven't gotten around to watching it; I'm quite curious to take a look at it now.

The other actors all do well; the various "types" in the screenplay by Andy Love and co-director Omid Nooshin are somewhat predictable, but in a good way. It's sort of "movie comfort food" in suspense film form. There are some violent moments, to be sure, but nothing graphic.

Nooshin's co-director was Ridoin El Aissati. The cinematography was by Angus Hudson.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray print and sound are excellent. Extras include the trailer and several featurettes on the film's technical aspects including sound design, set design, and visual effects.

There are also some annoying "must play" trailers when the disc initially boots up which do not allow the menu to come up until they're done. The quickest way I found to get past them to the menu was using the "chapter stop" fast-forward.

A trailer for the film is here.  I liked this one a lot and recommend it for my fellow fans of "train movies."

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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