Customer Reviews

Atomic Train [VHS]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have watched the movie about 6 times already, and it never gets boring. The effects were done very well, and accurately portrays the mayhem and chaos cause by this threat as the train hurls toward Denver and finally... Well, you're just gonna have to watch it yourself. It also shows the multi-dimensional view of human bahaviour, and how everyone would try and work together and save themselves from the worse. Some of the computer graphics were satisfactory and could have been better. But the most dramatic of all was when Rob Lowe jumped onto the train and became stranded with the crew members onboard. So heroic. This is one of those movies where it is not based on the effects or what stars are in the movie, but about human emotion, and the possibility of what will happen when the "unexpected" happens. Watch the first part of the movie and you'll see what I mean. Everyone is like been to hell and back, although some of them didn't make it, most survived. Overall, I believe this is a good choice for those moments where you just want to sit down with a bag of popcorn and watch a movie jammed with action. This movie's got it all. I believe NBC showed the movie on national TV earlier in 1999, but can't remember what day. You may have watched it. Anyways, proceed to your nearest video store and rent a copy today. A big thumbs up!

WOW! What a movie. I've watched the movie probobly a 100 times it is so good. The plot is super and it is very true to the subject matter. Due to a great crew. SUPER MOVIE!

I took a chance on buying the movie Atomic Train. I have never seen it before or knew anyone that has. I based my decision on the title and the reviews I read on Amazon. Knowing that it was a made for TV flick my expectations was low. I have watched the movie twice now and I am glad I bought it. The basic story is a stowaway nuclear bomb on a runaway train. Will the train crash and set off the bomb? I will not give much away but to say there are a few surprises. Being a TV movie you have your soap opera elements but not as bad as I had expected. The special effects are good and the acting decent. There is a short making of the movie on the DVD. If you like trains and action you probably won't be disappointed.

This film is on a short list of worse films ever.

Ranks up there with 'Albino Aligator'

A MUST SEE but turn off sound and/or brain and enjoy

See other reviews for plot info, I won't repeat it. Apparently the makers of this movie didn't know anything about geography or railroads.

300 Miles west of Denver is the other side of the mountains. The train would have to go uphill 150 miles or so, before it could even begin to coast down.

The setting is supposedly modern, yet the train contained cars that have not been in service since the 80s, including a caboose!? The box car containing the "bomb" was modified with a roof walk and side bars so the actors could climb on it.

One of the major malfunctions of the train was a broken air line so the train couldn't stop. In reality when the line breaks and looses the air, the brakes come on automatically.

The throttle of the locomotive got stuck on. No problem, all the engineer had to do was take his foot off the "dead man" pedal, and the train would stop (In the "Silver Streak" the bad guy used a tool box to hold it down.) After that, even though the engineer had no control of the train, he remained in the engineer's seat instead of trying to help out.

The hero tried to short out the "booster" in order to slow it down, but earlier the engineer had said the dynamics wouldn't stop it. Even if this would have worked, it would have been much easier just to disconnect the wires (called MU cables) that hook the two locomotives together.

And the worst thing of all. Each car has its own manual brake. Can you imagine five trainmen and a man who investigates train wrecks not knowing that. Several shots that show the people trying to stop the train also show the brake wheel in clear view. "Hey stupid, turn the wheel behind you!"

These things and others (like people in panic trying to steal an auto in one scene, yet 10 seconds later the owners leave the vehicle to help someone but no one steals it?) ruin any plot credibility of the rest of the show.

As my spouse said, "If that movie is so bad why are you watching it?" It was a good question and as such I turned it off and don't know or care how it ended.

This was a great action-packed suspenseful movie. I was hanging off the edge of my seat!

I was surprised to see Rob Lowe in this movie. Of course, Rob is one of the few good things in this movie that is yet another entry into the disaster genre. Unfortunately, there are so many problems with this movie's plot that the producer should have fired the technical advisor or the director that failed to listen to him.

There is this train traveling through the Rocky Mountains with a Russian nuclear missile secreted on board. In addition to the nuclear missile are all kinds of hazardous waste, including metallic sodium, which essentially explodes on contact with water. So, the train is rolling down hill for hundreds of miles into Denver with an air line on the train fails. Wait. That can not be right.

Let us check the facts. Once you get just a little way west of Denver, you are on the other side of the Front Range and the slope goes down again. Then how did the train go rolling for hundreds of miles into Denver? I have no answer for that question. Then there is an even more interesting question, which is why the train brakes failed to work when the air hose broke. The air pressure in the hoses deactivates the brakes, not the other way around. That way train cars will stop automatically when air lines open. Then there is the caboose. Cabooses have not been used in some time, except on rare occasions. Maybe the whole train was hazardous. It certainly seemed to be a couple of centuries behind the times.

If you can avoid the problems with this film, which are numerous, you find that this movie is much ado about nothing. It is a bit more difficult getting a nuclear missile onto a train than you might think. Even Soviet nuclear weapons do not explode easily, and Soviet weapons are notorious for being unreliable; i.e., they often do not work.

I found the whole premise of this movie implausible. Now, had someone tried to dismantle the bomb to get the nuclear material, or had someone set the air to be on constantly, and put a tool box on the accelerator, and arranged for the metallic sodium to crash into a train loaded with Perrier, then there might have been a plot. Instead, I was so caught up in the errors that I really had a hard time gaining any sympathy for any of the characters and what happened to them. I found it difficult to feel badly for the people who died, because at least they did not have to be there for the end of this turkey.

Atomic train is one of those "In between" TV films. It is not bad, but it is by no means good. The movie is about a runaway train heading towards Denver with a nuclear bomb inside one of its cars. The engineers an't stop it, so one man, a train wreck investagator, John Seger (Rob Lowe) goest out to try and get the situation under control.

Now, I just saw this on Sci-Fi a few days ago. The action scenes were well done, but some of the acting could have been much better. Also, there are a few holes in the plot that were extreamly noticeable, and during the course of the film there are many chances to stop the train that are overlooked. (i.e, when a crew member on the train is leaning against the hand break of one of the frieght cars and says "How the hell do we stop this thing"). But other than that, this was a good movie. If you like trains, you should see it at least once.

From the first few minutes to the time the credits roll, the action never lets up. Rob Lowe adds a little eye candy for us to enjoy along the way, but this is not some chic flick, the guys will enjoy it too. Plenty of action!

even if the dvd is region 2 (my dvd player is region free) the movie is very good quality and is very interesting to watch