Bardlerx Strictly average movie

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Melanie Bouvet The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

pete36 Based on a true story it's about Lomax (Colin Firth) , a former engineer burdened by some very traumatic experiences during WWII as a prisoner of war on the Burma railroad. More then 30 years later on a train he meets this nice woman (an almost unrecognisable Nicole Kidman), they fall in love and marry. But Lomax still has to deal with his troubled past. Then he finds out that one of his torturers is a tour guide at the former prison camp.Quite a few posters are very impressed with this film but I think it is rather overrated. Colin Firth is as always Colin Firth, Kidman is OK but nothing more. The real star is Jeremy Piven as the young Lomax who has to endure some really intense torturing (this is definitely not a family movie) which will leave you baffled. Rest of the cast is rather standard.Most trouble I have with the pacing of this movie : it jumps from now to the past at some really strange moments. Also those scenes of torturing are a bit too 'stretched out' for my taste. Some key moments of the movie are also completely messed up : then the older Lomax is in the UK, next he is at the gate of this former prison camp in Burma. Also the scenes when the Aussies jump in by parachute to liberate the camp and get a hold of the Japanese secret police and torturers, are treated way too short : there's hardly a fight, we can barely make out what happens to Lomax at this point. At least we should have seen those Japanese torturers hanged.The rest of the movie is rather predictable as everybody now os much older ofcourse and so sorry for what happened in the past.Again Hollywood (or whoever produced this) ruins another a potentially great war drama with a lousy PC script, lame direction and so and so acting.

tonypeacock-1 Moving drama based on the WWII experiences of Eric Lomax a Prisoner of War forced to work on a railway in Burma following the fall of Singapore to the Japanese.Lomax is played in two time-lines by Jeremy Irvine in the war and Colin Firth in his older years.He and his colleagues endure severe torture at the hands of their Japanese soldier captors forcing severe post traumatic stress disorder long after the war has ended.Lomax is a railway geek hence the title of the film. His demons come back to haunt him once he finds love with Patti (a rather boring Nicole Kidman) and the identity of one of his torturers is revealed as still being alive by wartime friend Finlay (Swedish Stellan Skarsgard). After travelling back to the site of his capture he finds forgiveness to the Japanese 'translator' soldier.The story is very interesting and emotional but the trouble with Colin Firth films I find is he plays pretty much the same character in all of them. A broody stiff upper lip Englishman. The film has a documentary feel like an episode of Michael Portillos Railway Journeys but on the whole provides a worthy film to watch.

tiailds The premise sounded interesting. It didn't quite live up to it."Was it interesting?" While the story has been done, this instance was well written.2 out of 3."Was it memorable?" The locations were good. The performances were mostly believable. The big problem here is how small the movie feels. There are really only 4 characters, and a handful of settings.1.5 out of 3."Was it entertaining?" I found the pacing to be written in chapters and didn't flow together. Everything was too methodical. The symbolism seemed a tad pretentious.1 out of 3.Starting with 1 (because I was ordered to), 1 + 2 + 1.5 + 1 = 5.5 This movie is such a middle of the road 5, with everything right perfectly equaling everything wrong.

alindsay-al I seem to watch quite a few biopics these days and the railway man is another and I liked this film. The premise of this film sees a man who has PTSD over torturous events that happened to him. He now has a chance to get redemption for those events when he finds out the man responsible is still alive. Colin firth is fantastic in this film. I've never seen him deliver such a damaged performance that you really feel. It was a big power performance that should have got more recognition. I thought the younger actor in the flashbacks did a decent job in encapsulating firths younger self. Nicole Kidman is a good actress and she was really good as firths wife in this film. She bought her character and their relationship because of her powerful performance. Stellan skarsgard is really good in his role in the film as firths colleague and he added allot to the film. The Japanese soldier was really good in this film too and even though you hated his character you felt an element of sympathy for his character. The present day story was really interesting seeing this truly damaged character trying to get his redemption. However, I felt the flashback scenes didn't add enough to the narrative to the film. The script had some decent dramatic dialogue because this is a powerful film but if definitely could have used more humour. The style was alright with a fantastic score and a unique backdrop. However, the pacing is off in this film, the first hour is just too slow and it hurts the film overall. Overall this is a good film that is worth a watch.