The 15:17 TO PARIS is another well-made Clint Eastwood movie that tells the true story of a thwarted terror attack on a train by three American tourists. I remember it well from the time it happened, but this unusual production takes around ten minutes of interesting incident and smacks it into the middle of an otherwise routine biopic about some not very interesting characters. The novelty here is that the tourists play themselves and they're much better than I'd have expected for non-actors; more naturalistic than some Hollywood professionals you'll have seen. It's just a shame that the school/army/holiday scenes are so uninteresting, as the train scene itself is bravura and reminiscent of Greengrass' excellent UNITED 93.

This is basically a come to Jesus film plus a few minutes of a fight on the train. The film starts the character build up in a middle Christian school and takes a swipe at Jesus vs ADD. The dialogue was dorky, dry and boring. Having the guys play themselves was not good. They can't act and it showed. We get to see some military training for two of the guys with the third being an also ran. The whole theme was everyone has a story and Jesus has a plan for all 6 billion of you. You can fast forward 70 minutes into the film, that is when it really starts. Clint Eastwood butchered the story.

Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity.

Not sure where all the negativity is coming from.

We get to see the real guys playing themselves. You don't have to wonder what they look and sound like in real life ... it's them. It's not a DIE HARD film, but the real story of the lives of 3 friends from elementary school who stay close and go on a trip to Europe together in their early 20s.

It could be that they were just the type of guys who were born to be heroes ... they weren't. It pulls no punches about their problems in school and in life. Everything doesn't just fall into place for them. The lead guy, Spencer, comes up short in a number of things. He's not a natural savant ... he's a guy like anyone else who gets a lot of things wrong before he gets them right. Overweight all through school, he had to work hard to get in shape to get into the military ... and even then not everything goes his way.

It's actually an American story. Two of the three kids were raised by single mothers. The life-long friends included two White guys and one Black guy ... an easy blending of what America should be and can be.

While getting into trouble, they keep a faith as they reach adulthood that guides their patriotism and forms them as people who will act, not just cower, when suddenly faced with a terrorist attack.

They could be any one of us and we could be them ... that's what makes this gripping. If you want a 90 minute shoot 'em up, it's not for you. If you want a story of regular guys figuring out life who become heroes when they're called to be, then check out this film.