Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

The Short Story: Manny (Jon Voigt) and Buck (Eric Roberts) are two prisoners who have escaped from a maximum security prison in Alaska. They hop aboard a train, thinking it will be their ticket to freedom, but when the engineer has a heart attack and falls overboard, the train becomes a runaway and stopping it is near impossible.

The Players: Jon Voigt does another fine acting job as Manny, a prisoner who has been locked in solitary confinement for 2 years and is a hero to the prison population. Eric Roberts is Buck, a rapist who is all to eager to please Manny and get on his good side. A very young Rebecca DeMornay plays a crew member that knows very little about trains.

The Human Condition: This movie can be looked at in one of two ways: as an action thriller, or as a study of the human condition. By today's standards this movie won't hold up as a good action film, but stands the test of time as a study of what it means to be human.

The screenplay for this film was supposedly adapted from an Akira Kurosawa story, and his influence can be seen in this film. Like other Kurosawa flicks I have seen and heard about the main character (in this case Manny) is a flawed individual whose actions make you sympathize with them in the end.

What is particularly telling in this film is the use of the word "animal." Manny is a very vicious criminal (no one gets locked in solitary confinement for two years for stealing candy bars) who is referred to throughout the movie as an "animal." Finally, after being referred to as an animal one to many times Manny's witty repartee is "No worse...Human!" To the unsophisticated this may seem like an innocuous statement but if you really ask yourself what he means by that you see that he is asking a question about the very core of human instinct and behavior. Combine Manny's statement with the quote flashed at the very end of the film from Shakespeare's Richard III: "No beast so fierce but has some touch of pity. But I have none and therefore am no beast." Is Manny really an animal?

Moving on: I'll avoid getting into plot specifics, but Manny eventually goes through a series of events that makes him call into question his animalistic ways. It is here that the audience turns from loathing Manny to sympathizing with him. Voigt does a very good job of portraying Manny wrestling with his animal instincts and his desire to be a polite human being.

Eric Roberts as Buck is cheesy though the first half of the film but tones it down and lets Voigt take over.

Rebecca DeMornay's character is virtually useless and I found her character to be more of an annoyance than lending to the strength of the story.


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12