Decent Enough Sci-Fi Thriller With A Solid Lead From Jake Gyllenhaal

Rating: 6/10 (21 May 2020)

Pros:
1. Jake Gyllenhaal (Colter Stevens) per usual gives a brilliant performance.
2. The train setting gives the film an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia which helps to increase the tension.
3. The CGI, in regards to the train, fire, explosions looks surprisingly good. The movie also knows never to over-rely on it.
4. The pacing is fantastic. With a limited plot, it's always a high risk that the movie will start to feel repetitive, however this film keeps the same pace and manages to stay fresh.
5. The ending is simultaneously heartwarming and satisfying.
Cons:
1. The score is extremely overbearing and obnoxious, as well as the fact that it's mostly just stock action music.
2. The film's lighting makes the movie look really cheap and bland.
3. Derek Frost's (Michael Arden) motives for blowing up the train are very weak. He states the "world is hell," and therefore it needs to be reduced to rubble. This reduces the tension, and it induces an eye-roll.
4. There are a few plot-holes. For example: somehow Colter Steven's dad didn't recognise his own son's voice over the phone; the film never explains how Colter Stevens' consciousness can be broadcast into a dead person's memory; and at the end, a new world is mysteriously created with no explanation.