Narrow Margin

12/1/2014

Narrow Margins and Wide Loads. Director and writer Peter Hyams took the bold decision to reimage one of the best film noir crime pictures of the 1950s, and all things considered it’s not half bad. Without getting close to the greatness of Richard Fleischer’s 1952 claustrophobic suspenser that is. Having Gene Hackman and Anne Archer heading up your two principal characters is a good foundation. As the district attorney employee and witness to a mob killing respectively, both actors come up trumps for their director as they are thrust into a game of cat and mouse aboard a speeding train. As the Canadian wilderness outside the train’s windows soothes the eyes, the cramped interiors make for good suspense as Hackman plays the calm to Archer’s panic. There’s nothing new here in terms o

9/29/2025

Second time watching this and still a solid thriller with a great finale that, save for one shot, looked practical which was great and today would've been done with visual effects. Good performances from Hackman and Archer and at only 94-minutes, a quick but entertaining way to spend a weekend night. **3.5/5**