User reviews

British TV dramas are sometimes pearls - good acting, psychological depth, ambiguous British morality combined not only once in strikingly good films, worth watching and more.

This is not the case with 'Cruel Train'. An adaptation of an Emile Zola novel, located in 1940 UK at war, this movie cannot decide what path to take - dark drama or detective story. The pace is too fast, too many things happen for a 90 minutes TV space, and characters do not have time to build credibility or to let us understand what is their motivation. Acting is not that good as we are used in other BBC dramas, and overall I remained with a bad taste after watching this brutal and sordid story.

Maybe we can attribute failings to the title's nature as a TV movie; though there are exceptions, that medium has a poor history when it comes to full-length presentations. Maybe producer Mervyn Gill-Dougherty is to blame, or filmmaker Malcolm McKay; there are some notable stars here, and I know what they're capable of, but these two figures are not known to me, and maybe their vision was flawed, or they were just incapable. Wherever the fault lies, by the time even just fifteen minutes have passed we're given two notable scenes that are tawdrily forceful and forthright, impacting too much in turn. That includes McKay's direction, first and foremost, but also the editing, the dialogue and scene writing, subsequently the story at large, and even the acting of so esteemed an actor as David Suchet, and co-stars Saskia Reeves and Adrian Dunbar. No, not every scene is so troubled, and other parts of the picture are more suitable. Yet 'Cruel train' doesn't get off to a good start, its strength is otherwise rather variable, and the same weaknesses rear their heads again and again.

Gawkily tactless and blunt at too many times, in too many ways, the adaptation to the screen of a fine root narrative becomes messy in execution, and not particularly engaging. There are some nice, subtle touches here and there, sure, and some more nuanced instances of acting; on the other hand, sometimes the flick isn't nearly as clever as it often thinks itself to be, and there are even moments that inspire unintended, mocking laughter. For good measure, factor in some gratuitous nudity, and character writing that in and of itself is less than fully convincing. Nick Bicât's score is okay, but repetitive as it is used here. Even as the plot does actually progress, McKay's direction somewhat flattens the plot development such that the tale at large also comes across as flat and middling.

There was potential in this feature, but too many elements show tiresome flaws that significantly diminish its lasting value. Why, there is no element that is consistent enough to deserve round praise; incredibly, this grows more heavy-handed as the length draws on, and ever more questionable. What should in theory be a compelling, tragic crime drama - with complex characters, strong performances, and aching, pervasive tension - is instead flimsy, trifling, and forgettable. I quite feel bad for everyone involved. Writer and director, producer, cast, and crew members all meant well, but to be frank the end result is pretty terrible, including a final ten minutes or so that all by themselves are awful enough to flush away all but the smallest shreds of whatever credit I may have very generously assigned. I'm glad for those who get more out of 'Cruel train' than I do, but I'm not sure how they do it. In my opinion there are far too many other films in the world, far more worthy ones, to bother spending time here.