Warner Bros. Pictures

It’s impossible to say how tragic the situation might have been on Thalys train 9364 on August 21, 2015, had three Americans — Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, and Spencer Stone — not stepped in to intercept a terrorist sporting enough will and ammunition to cause countless deaths. But a few minutes of nail-biting, recreated heroism isn’t enough to justify the other 90-or-so minutes in Clint Eastwood’s dry salute of a movie, “The 15:17 to Paris,” which struggles to mix patriotism, friendship, God, and destiny into something meaningful.

Unlike the weighty punch of the director’s last couple of true bravery stories, “American Sniper” and “Sully,” the primary impression this effort leaves is that of an expensive memento.

The keepsake vibe stems from the fact that Eastwood daringly cast the three heroes as themselves, a bid for Harold Russell/Haing S. Ngor non-professional naturalism as admirable as it was mistaken, since one mostly watches these close friends as stunt performers (Can they pull it off?) rather than blended-in parts of a strong narrative. Hoping they do well from scene to scene — for Anthony’s casual insouciance to spice things up, for Spencer’s polite intensity to disarm, for Alek’s quiet macho charm to land — doesn’t exactly put one in the right frame of mind to get swept up in a movie.

Watch Video: Clint Eastwood's '15:17 to Paris' Trailer Boasts Real-Life American Heroes Confronting Terrorism

After an opening that follows the would-be criminal as he walks his roller toward the fated train, Anthony narrates an introduction to him and his friends, seen riding in a convertible like the stars of a music video, as the movie travels back in time to show how a pair of earnest white boys and a wisecracking black kid became friends at a Christian middle school in Sacramento in 2005.

The bond was of the marginalized and mischievous: young Spencer (William Jennings) and Alek (Bryce Gheisar) favoring camo-wear, war games, and pranks to any overt “coolness,” while Anthony (Paul-Mikel Williams) is the smooth-talker they run into on trips to see the principal (Thomas Lennon).

Spencer’s mom Joyce (Judy Greer) and Alek’s mother Heidi (Jenna Fischer) battle their religious community’s stigmatization of single moms. Joyce worries that her kid isn’t focused enough to succeed at anything, which leads to one of the more ham-fisted moments in Dorothy Blyskal’s screenplay: the young, military-obsessed Spencer kneeling at his bed, praying to God, “Make me an instrument of your peace.”

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Though circumstance splits the trio up as children, they stay in touch over the next decade. Spencer, who transforms his youthful pudginess into a warrior-like frame, pursues his dream of becoming an Air Force pararescueman, carrying an eagerness to save the day that causes one instructor to roll her eyes. Alek joins the National Guard, learns about weapons, and briefly sees service in Afghanistan. Anthony’s goals, meanwhile, outside of scenes watching sports and teasing his friends, are mysteriously ignored.

But when they all decide to convene in Europe on a holiday — sightseeing in Italy, biking in Germany, clubbing and beers in Amsterdam — Eastwood flirts disastrously with vacation slide-show boredom in his attempt to portray the ordinary before the extraordinary. Crammed in are clunky teases to what lies ahead: Spencer musing aloud about life catapulting you toward a purpose, and a German tour guide barking, “You Americans can’t take credit every time evil is defeated.”

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We get the fact that Hollywood usually makes everybody it dramatizes into hopelessly wittier and more interesting people than the real-life versions, and how sometimes correcting that glamorization is worthwhile, but these sequences take adherence to mundanity to a pulse-deadening extreme. I already assumed heroes ate gelato and used selfie sticks, but these drawn-out details don’t do much to set the scene.

By the time we reach the attack sequence, its realistic nerviness — from “Sully” vets Tom Stern’s fleet camerawork and Blu Murray’s editing — comes almost as a mood-altering relief: artfulness has arrived. There’s a casually physical authenticity to the quickness, the fear, the brutality, and the attention given a wounded passenger, that gives these tense minutes a heart-stopping believability.

It’s here that Eastwood the veteran flexes his muscles as a director not just of action, but also of people of action, and burnishes his status as a chronicler of the humanity surrounding such necessary violence. Whether you believe God put these (military-trained) regular Joes there (an idea the movie gently nudges) or subscribe to a faith in the sacrifice of good people whenever confronted with stopping harm, the depiction of the men’s clear-eyed reactions is a gripping account of unthinking valor.

But it’s a meander until then. If you’re looking for the type of curtain pullback on a harrowing event that Paul Greengrass crafted with “United 93” or “Captain Phillips,” or a philosophical character study along the lines of Eastwood’s “Sniper” and “Sully,” then “The 15:17 to Paris” is regrettably more a wading pool than an immersive dunk.

'The 15:17 to Paris' and 8 Other Movies Where Heroes Played Themselves (Photos)

Clint Eastwood's latest film "The 15:17 to Paris" stages a daring casting stunt. It tells the story of three American soldiers, Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos, who thwarted a terrorist attack aboard a train bound for Paris. And Eastwood cast Stone, Sadler and Skarlatos to play themselves and relive their heroics. But Eastwood's choice isn't without precedent, as other veterans throughout history have played themselves or versions of themselves on film. Some public figures have even gone beyond simple cameos to actually star in their own life stories.
Getty Images
Harold Russell - "The Best Years of Our Lives"

William Wyler's Best Picture winning masterpiece "The Best Years of Our Lives" was the first great post-war movie of the era, taking a look at PTSD from three different vantage points and ways of life. One of the most shocking and stirring was the story of Harold Russell, who played a version of himself, Homer Parrish, opposite Fredrich March and Dana Andrews. Russell lost both of his arms during an accident while making a training film and was given hooks for hands. His character grapples with the same affliction of trying to fit back into normal life, most poignantly in knowing he can't hold his bride-to-be. Russell is one of two non-professional actors to win an Oscar.
RKO Radio Pictures
Muhammad Ali - "The Greatest"

Before Will Smith would portray him in Michael Mann's film, Muhammad Ali played himself in 1977's "The Greatest," charting his life story from competing in the Olympic, changing his name from Cassius Clay, to refusing an army induction during Vietnam. And "The Greatest" rightfully has an impressively great cast for him to work against, including Ernest Borgnine, Robert Duvall and James Earl Jones.
YouTube
Howard Stern - "Private Parts"

Howard Stern became a minor movie star after the success of his biopic "Private Parts," with rumblings that he might even make a return to film. But he was born to play himself, and the biopic based on his memoir was designed to appeal to the crowd that worshipped his smutty on-air antics and those who misunderstood him, resulting in a surprisingly sweet Hollywood success story.
Paramount Pictures
Jackie Robinson - "The Jackie Robinson Story"

Jackie Robinson acted out his life story as history was unfolding. "The Jackie Robinson Story" offers him opportunities to show off his athleticism, but is more focused on his childhood, his time in the Negro Leagues and the racism he faced while playing for the Dodgers. Bosley Crowther wrote in his 1950 New York Times review that Robinson "displays a calm assurance and composure that might be envied by many a Hollywood star."
Public Domain
Audie Murphy - "To Hell and Back"

Audie Murphy was 30 when he played himself between the ages of 17 to 20 in "To Hell and Back," a war movie based on his own autobiography. Murphy was a scrawny, boyish looking soldier who was initially turned down by the Marines and the Navy due to his physique and appearance. But he eventually found a place in the army and became a decorated hero. "To Hell and Back" was a wild commercial success, and unlike Harold Russell, he parlayed that success to a 20+ year career acting in film.
Universal Pictures
Dr. Haing S. Ngor - "The Killing Fields"

Haing S. Ngor didn't exactly portray himself in Roland Joffé's "The Killing Fields," but he was a doctor who did live through the Khmer Rouge era that the film depicts. Ngor plays Cambodian journalist Dith Pran, who worked closely with American journalist Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterston) and helped him to safety after the country fell to communist rule. Ngor became only the second non-actor after Harold Russell to win an Oscar.
Warner Bros.
Ben Sliney - "United 93"

Paul Greengrass' "United 93" feels incredibly realistic in its use of unknown actors and documentary-style filmmaking. But making it more effective was that Greengrass quietly cast Ben Sliney as himself in the film, an FAA National Operations Manager who gave the order to land every plane on the day of the 9/11 attacks, which also happened to be Sliney's first day on the job.
Getty Images
R. Lee Ermey - "Full Metal Jacket"

R. Lee Ermey served as a drill sergeant during his time in the Marine Corps and was brought on as a technical advisor for Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." But after putting together an instructional video where he went on a tirade on some film extras, Kubrick immediately cast him as the ruthless, barking mad Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in his film. He's played numerous brash roles since his fiery turn, but it's good to know that he once said he's "basically a nice person."
Warner Bros.

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Clint Eastwood is far from the first filmmaker to cast real-life characters in their own stories

Clint Eastwood's latest film "The 15:17 to Paris" stages a daring casting stunt. It tells the story of three American soldiers, Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos, who thwarted a terrorist attack aboard a train bound for Paris. And Eastwood cast Stone, Sadler and Skarlatos to play themselves and relive their heroics. But Eastwood's choice isn't without precedent, as other veterans throughout history have played themselves or versions of themselves on film. Some public figures have even gone beyond simple cameos to actually star in their own life stories.

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