Search - Death Train on DVD

A cheesy film with a heroic battle monk (no, I'm not kidding

Schtinky | California | 10/09/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Sandra Carlson is looking for help for her son Joey, who is sick with a rare disease. The treatment costs 100,000 euros and the insurance company has turned her down. Desperate, she makes a bungie jump from a nearby church throwing flyers to the crowd that has gathered. The church decides to help her by sending her to a large religious gathering at Lourdes, where the pope will be. There is a chance she can get the money there.

Meanwhile, a group of terrorists lead by Lennart (Arnold Vosloo, famous for his role as Imhotep in the 1999 version of The Mummy) breaks into a secure facility and steals a deadly virus. The disguise themselves as monks and a nun to board the special train to Lourdes.

Also on the train is Brother Matthew, member of a secret order called "Pugnus Dei". (Kind of like the monk's "special forces") Traveling with him is rotund Brother Gladius and handsome Brother Lasko. Lasko joined the monks to find peace with himself after too much killing in the war. He's haunted by memories of the dying (shown in flashbacks). When little Joey remarks on seeing a nun in expensive Nike's and lipstick, Matthew becomes suspicious and looks for the nun. Unfortunately, the fidgety bad guys find him first and kill him. He's alive only long enough to pass his ring on to Lasko. Before dying, Matthew reported to his superior that there was trouble on board the train.

Now the law knows where to find Lennart and his gang, but Lennart doesn't want to be caught. The train is re-routed and it's up to Lasko and Gladius to save the day, and everyone on the train from the virus.

'Death Train' is a 2006 German film, quite a low budget one, but rather entertaining all the same. It's fast-paced and filled with action, including slo-mo martial arts and lots of explosions. I watched the film because I liked Arnold Vosloo so much from watching him as Imhotep in The Mummy. 'Death Train' is a Saturday afternoon film, perfect for lounging in front of the TV after mowing the yard. Some of the acting is good though much of it is not. The FX is decent, especially on the explosions. The fighting scenes are okay, though I felt the slo-mo went a little overboard. The plot is thin but lively. All in all, the movie was actually better than I expected it to be. My major disappointment was that there are no subtitles for the hearing impaired, but at least it was filmed in the English language. Rent, don't buy. Enjoy!
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German Action Film with Decent Actions and Stunts (But Don't

Tsuyoshi | Kyoto, Japan | 09/05/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

""Im Auftrag des Vatikans" (aka "Death Train") is a German action film of which story looks like a clumsy combination of elements from Steven Segal's "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory" and "The Cassandra Crossing." The patchy script is nothing but an excuse for the film to show the stunts on the train, but these stunts are decent, sometimes surprisingly good.

A group of terrorist led by Arnold "Imhotep" Vosloo, after stealing canisters containing deadly virus from the laboratory, sneak into a pilgrim train going to Lourdes, disguised as monks and nun. However, what they didn't expect is Lasko (Mathis Landwehr), solider-turned-monk, is also on the same train. In fact Lasko, trying to recover from his horrible memories in the battlefield, once decided to live quietly in a monastery, but the Church has another plan prepared for him and its name is "Pugnus Dei" .... Well, this may sound silly, and is in fact very silly. And the film's lighter tone shows the filmmakers do not take the film too seriously. "God's Fist" may be a secret order, but never brutal.

But the film's actions are more than I expected. Some cheesy special effects aside, the stunts including explosions and crashes are very good (and would have been better with more effective editing). He may not be as good and charismatic as Tony Jaa or Jet Li, but Mathis Landwehr as the world's unlikeliest hero shows considerable martial arts skills during the fight scenes. What he needs is a better choreographer and film editor because good as he is, some scenes of the action sequences (on the train's roof, for example) do not look convincing enough.

If you're a fan of Arnold Vosloo, you may be disappointed. He is there obviously to attract more worldwide audiences, but his roles as the terrorist leader is not memorable (and his decisions are dubious, often stupid) and acting is not his best.

Characters are mostly typical ones, acting is passable at best, and the plot is one of the most ridiculous I ever heard (one of the terrorist dies in the most bizarre and stupidest way), but I find myself enjoying this film for its mindless and entertaining actions."