Last Passenger

Debut director Omid Nooshin handles this low-budget commuter-train variation on Runaway Train (1985) with admirable aplomb. It all ends a little predictably, but it still manages to generate decent amounts of suspense along the way. Heading towards a yuletide night shift, widowed doctor Dougray Scott strives to keep young son Joshua Kaynama amused while he flirts with fellow passenger Kara Tointon. But Scott still notices that all is not well aboard their train and, on discovering that it is hurtling towards its doom at Hastings, he enlists the help of businessman David Schofield, aspiring Polish illusionist Iddo Goldberg and grandmother Lindsay Duncan to try and avert a disaster. Less interested in the motives of the madman behind the mayhem than the mechanics of the survival schemes, Nooshin capably combines character insight with high-speed set pieces. But, while the performances are game, this lacks genuine spectacle and a palpable sense of dread.