Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Last Passenger Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 2, 2014

Omid Nooshin's "Last Passenger" (2013) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Kaleidoscope Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film and standard making of featurette with comments from different cast and crew members. In English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Talk to me

Dr. Lewis Shaler (Dougray Scott, Mission: Impossible II, Deep Impact) and his son Max are on the last train to Tunbridge Wells. While the doctor is on his cell phone with one of his patients, Max spills the coffee of the friendly but jaded Sarah (Kara Tointon, The Sweeney, The Football Factory), who is heading home after abandoning a party organized by a few of her best friends. Slightly embarrassed, the doctor immediately offers to take care of the rather large stain on Sarah’s beautiful white coat, but she smiles and politely refuses. Then she sits next to him and the two begin talking.

During an unexpected stop, the doctor notices a body on the tracks. He rushes to find the ticket controller and let him know that there might have been an accident, but instead discovers that he is missing. Soon after, he realizes that the train has been hijacked by a man who wants to destroy it. Assisted by the remaining three passengers on the train -- an overworked businessman (David Schofield, Gladiator), a feisty immigrant with an engineering degree (Iddo Goldberg, And While We Were Here), and a quiet grandmother with a heart condition (Lindsay Duncan, Le Week-End) -- the doctor begins working on a plan that will allow him to stop the train before it reaches the end of the line.

This low-budget British film directed by Omid Nooshin borrows plenty from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes and Andrei Konchalovsky's Runaway Train, but it definitely has an identity of its own. It is more of a character-driven drama than a pure action film, but it is shot in a way that will likely appeal to fans of both.

Virtually the entire film takes place on the train where the doctor and the remaining passengers are struggling to figure out how to reach the hijacker. The focus of attention is primarily on the crucial discussions which gradually raise the intensity level. Excluding a few short phone calls, the actions of the police are basically ignored.

The special effects are modest at very best, but this actually helps the film remain firmly grounded in reality. Also, during the second half there are a few surprising twists, but they are entirely believable. In other words, the limited budget has strengthened the film in areas that typically become problematic in big-budgeted action extravaganzas.

The cast is very good. Scott is very convincing as the concerned father who has to find a way to stop the train. There are a couple of sequences where he loses his cool, but his actions never become melodramatic. Goldberg is equally believable as the feisty engineer turned magician who feels that he has something to prove. At times Tointon looks a bit too elegant to be in this film, but it isn’t difficult to embrace her character. Schofield’s loner remains something of a mystery but does not look out of place. Duncan has a small cameo but makes an impression.

Last Passenger was lensed by Angus Hudson (Sean Ellis’ Cashback, The Broken), who makes the film look far more expensive than it actually is.

In 2013, Last Passenger earned Douglas Hickox Award nomination for Best Debut Director (Nooshin) at the 16th annual Moët British Independent Film Awards.

Last Passenger Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080/50i transfer, Omid Nooshin's Last Passenger arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Kaleidoscope Entertainment.

This independent British film arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080/50i high-definition transfer which actually contains progressive frames. This means that there is absolutely no motion-judder whatsoever. To be clear, this is essentially a progressive transfer "locked" inside a 1080/50i encode.

Shot with the Arri Alexa camera and with anamorphic lenses from the 1930s, the film has the appropriate smooth and clean look. If there is plenty of light, detail and clarity are very good. Image depth, however, can fluctuate at times. Generally speaking, contrast levels are stable, but during the second half there are select sequences where minor inherited fluctuations are present. Colors are warm and soft, always looking natural. Encoding and compression are good, but occasionally some extremely light artifacts try to sneak in (see screencapture #15). Regardless, while viewing the film their presence is virtually impossible to spot. Lastly, there are absolutely no stability issues to report in this review. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Last Passenger Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English LPCM 2.0. For the record, Kaleidoscope Entertainment have not provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.

The film's sound design is fairly modest, but Liam Bates' music score and some really strong mixing actually create the impression that it isn't (the sound of the moving train is excellent). Still, you should not expect to experience a film whose dynamic intensity matches that of big-budget action films. The dialog is clean, crisp, and steady. Also, there are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in this review.

Last Passenger Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making of - director of photography Angus Hudson, actors Dougray Scott and Kara Tointon, VFX Supervisor Tim Smit, executive producer Kwesi Dickson, and production designer Jon Bunker, amongst others, discuss the unique look of Last Passenger and some of the obstacles that had to be overcome because of the film's limited budget. In English, not subtitled.
  
  1. Introduction to Last Passenger (8 min).
  2. Getting the Green-light Story of the £500 Trailer (5 min).
  3. Cinematography (3 min).
  4. Set Design (5 min). 5. VFX (4 min).
  6. Editing (4 min).
  7. Sound Design (3 min).

• Trailer - original trailer for Last Passenger. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

Last Passenger Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you have seen and enjoyed Joseph Sargent's The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and Andrei Konchalovsky's Runaway Train, I encourage you to seek and see Omid Nooshin's Last Passenger. It is a very well made low-budget British film that will keep you on the edge of your seat literally until the final credits roll. Kaleidoscope Entertainment's technical presentation of Last Passenger is very good. RECOMMENDED.