Product Details

• Actors: Rob Lowe, Kristin Davis, Esai Morales, John Finn, Mena Suvari
• Directors: Dick Lowry, David Jackson
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: September 21, 1999
• Run Time: 168 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 1573626732
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #70,160 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Atomic Train" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
With good production values and a load of suspense, Atomic Train delivers the goods--ahead of schedule. A rich bureaucrat with a Porsche, a goatee, and a defective sense of morality places a defective Russian nuclear warhead aboard a defective American train for cheap disposal, but the engine loses its brakes and hurls out of control toward Denver. Will it explode? Will it wipe out half the city? Will the thoughts and prayers of the President--played by Edward Herrmann, in his best Chrysler-salesman mode--do any good? Will Rob Lowe, the major hero of this epic, ever be able to save his career?

Atomic Train hauls along every disaster-flick formula you can think of: an estranged couple bonding again during a time of crisis (you begin to miss the hysterical Harvey Fierstein character of Independence Day); urban rioting and mayhem; government officials wearing headsets and breathlessly watching video monitors; trigger-happy military men; high-speed stunts; escapes by helicopter; clean-up crews in white spacesuits; many scenes of families being reunited after subplot cliffhangers, to major-key crescendos on the soundtrack. The only typical element missing is a dog saved from a fire at the last minute. But, you have to admit, what Atomic Train does it does with pizzazz.

Everyone's a hero in this movie and almost everyone faces great danger, including Esai Morales, an estranged husband and father; Kristin Davis, the ex-wife with child he's competing with Lowe for; and Zack Ward, the assistant train engineer. It's interesting to see what Ward looks like and what he's doing so many years after playing the yellow-eyed bully in A Christmas Story (hint: a strikingly handsome decent actor). That's one of the many guilty pleasures of this film, with its post-Armageddon tone of overly heroic but ultimately disposable machismo. And explosions. Lots of explosions. --Robert Burns Neveldine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The movie rocks!, September 27, 1999

By A Customer

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!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Might be OK movie if you're not into trains, October 25, 2004

By	Train Chaser "sleuthraptorman" (Thornton, CO United States) - See all my reviews

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Atomic Train was a surprise blast., March 25, 2004

By	M. W. Van Meter "danorange" (Florissant, MO United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.