After Running Start, ‘Train’ Loses Steam
Although it’s got Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson and a New York backdrop, “Money Train” is by no means a sequel to their 1992 hit, “White Men Can’t Jump.”
Despite a promising premise - a pair of New York transit cops find themselves hijacking an armored subway car filled with millions of dollars in collected fares - the picture gets derailed soon after a solid start, hampered by weak character motivations and sluggish pacing.
Action fans and those expecting a continuation of the Ron Shelton film will likely hop aboard during the opening weekend, but this vehicle just doesn’t have what it takes for an extended run.
Snipes and Harrelson are a pair of loyal but quibbling foster brothers who both work as decoy cops for the subway system. As if their job isn’t perilous enough, Harrelson’s gambling addiction has gotten him in over his head with a group of nasty poker players intent on collecting one way or another.
Desperate to come up with the cash, Harrelson eventually turns to the Money Train, an armored Brinks truck of a subway car that carries the transit authority’s daily take. Attempting to stop him, Snipes ends up going along for the bumpy ride.
Harrelson and Snipes have a great chemistry, but they’re let down by a script that has trouble deciding if it wants to be a “Lethal Weapon-type” action comedy or a probing character sketch and ends up delivering unsatisfactory bits of each.
When the Money Train payoff finally arrives, director Joseph Ruben (“Sleeping With the Enemy”), delivers some tense action, but it’s a case of too little, too late.
Among the other performances, Jennifer Lopez has a nice screen presence as another transit cop who comes between the two brothers, but the romantic sub-plot is never sufficiently developed. Robert Blake has fun with his portrayal of a tough-talking transit chief who watches over his Money Train like it was his only daughter. Chris Cooper, meanwhile, is creepily effective as a subway terrorist whose specialty is torching ticket booths.
xxxx “Money Train” Location: North Division, Lincoln Heights and Coeur d’Alene cinemas Credits: Directed by Joseph Ruben, starring Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, Jennifer Lopez, Robert Blake, Chris Cooper, Joe Grifasi Running time: 103 minutes Rated: R