Last Passenger

LAST PASSENGER is a British movie and a low-budget addition to the string of "single location" thrillers. In this one, a handful of passengers are stranded on an abandoned train at night, a train that's being driven by a man who may or may not be out of his mind. What ensues is reasonably good given the set-up, with plenty of suspense and low-rent heroics as those trapped try to work out a way to improve their situation.

One of the real strengths of LAST PASSENGER lies in the calibre of the cast members. Dougray Scott is a particularly dependable face when it comes to genre fare (such as the lacklustre DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS miniseries) and he acquits himself well with the family-man-turned-group-leader role here. Kara Tointon is little more than a pretty face, but there also decent turns from the reliable David Schofield and Lindsay Duncan. Newcomer Iddo Goldberg is a hoot as the volatile Pole who plays his own part in the proceedings.

A few elements of LAST PASSENGER are a little cheesy, such as some of the CGI effects, and there's a nod to UNDER SIEGE 2 at one point which destroys the carefully-maintained realism seen elsewhere. But for the most part this is gripping, tension-filled stuff and a film whose restraint works in its favour.