Death, Deceit and Destiny Aboard the Orient Express

Death, Deceit and Destiny Aboard the Orient Express
Death, Deceit and Destiny Aboard the Orient Express
Directed by Mark Roper
Produced by Harry Allen Towers
Written by Peter Jobin
Harry Allen Towers (as Peter Welbeck)
Starring Richard Grieco
Christoph Waltz
Romina Mondello
Jennifer Nitsch
Götz Otto
Hristo Shopov
Music by Stelvio Cipriani
Cinematography Adolfo Bartoli
Distributed by e-m-s the DVD Company
Release date(s) 2000
Running time 92 min.
Country United States
Canada
Bulgaria
Language English

Death, Deceit and Destiny Aboard the Orient Express is a 2000 thriller film about a group of international terrorists who, a few days before the start of the new millennium, lure a group of very rich celebrities and businesspeople on board the Orient Express from Paris to Istanbul in order to extort large sums of money from them. The screenplay for the movie was written by Peter Welbeck (aka Harry Alan Towers) and Peter Jobin. The film, which was directed by Mark Roper, starred Richard Grieco, Joanna Bukovska, Romina Mondello, Christoph Waltz, Sendhil Ramamurthy and Götz Otto.

Plot

When an anonymous benefactor invites a party of celebrities and business magnates to a New Year's celebration aboard the Orient Express, it is the guests' greed which brings them all together. Apart from an enjoyable free trip on the luxury train, the businessmen among the passengers also expect to make a lucrative deal. However, just outside Paris the whole train is taken over by terrorists—without anybody noticing. Jack Chase (Richard Grieco), a young American actor who has also been invited, realizes that one of the waiters is missing but does not know that he has been killed together with all his work colleagues.

Very soon the passengers sense that something is wrong. For example, a powerful jamming station on board the train ensures that they cannot contact the outside world via their mobile phones. Then, before dinner, they get to know their host: It is Tarik (Christopher Waltz), a well-known, internationally wanted Arab terrorist, who communicates with them via interactive television. Tarik announces the "Fundamentalist Revolution", the "victory of faith over corruption", and demands one tenth of each of his hostages' fortunes. Tarik himself is in fact on the train disguised as a cook, but no one has so far found out. The captives also learn that the terrorists have rigged the train with explosives: If the train slows, stops or passes the midnight hour the bombs are rigged to blow.

Predictably, the passengers try to do something about their predicament. While the businessmen ponder the question of whether to pay up or not, it is the women who take an active part in fighting the terrorists, most notably Nadia (Joanna Bukovska), a young Russian dancer who has fallen in love with Chase and who even saves his life when he is attacked by one of the thugs. The couple secretly climb on the roof of the train and succeed in finding some of the explosives. In the end, shortly before their arrival in Istanbul, the locomotive, with Tarik in it, is uncoupled from the rest of the train and blown to pieces by the bombs planted by the terrorist himself.

Although the movie was released long before the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, the character of Tarik is a thinly disguised Osama bin Laden. There are also some minor but obvious parallels to the 1974 film Murder on the Orient Express, which is based on an Agatha Christie novel. These parallels almost exclusively concern the setting and the constellation of characters: There are no similarities whatsoever regarding the plot.

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Orient Express — For other uses, see Orient Express (disambiguation). Oriental Railway redirects here. For the Ottoman railway company, see Chemins de fer Orientaux. Orient Express Poster advertising the Winter 1888–89 timetable for the Orient Express …   Wikipedia

  • List of films set on trains — A list of films set on trains:* The Lady Vanishes * The Incident (1967 film) * The Lady Vanishes * Night Train to Munich * Murder on the Orient Express * North by Northwest * Strangers on a Train (partly) * Twentieth Century * Death, Deceit and… …   Wikipedia

  • Christoph Waltz — Waltz at the 82nd Academy Awards in March 2010 Born 4 October 1956 (1956 10 04) (age 55) Vienna, Austria …   Wikipedia

  • Mark Roper — est un réalisateur et scénariste sud africain, né le 16 mars 1958 à Johannesburg en Afrique du Sud. Il est surnommé Boom Boom. Sommaire 1 Filmographie 1.1 En tant que réalisateur …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Christoph Waltz — Waltz en los Premios Óscar de 2009 Nombre real Christoph Waltz Nacimiento 4 de octubre de 1956 (55 años) …   Wikipedia Español

  • Вальц, Кристоф — В Википедии есть статьи о других людях с такой фамилией, см. Вальц. Кристоф Вальц Christoph Waltz …   Википедия

  • Harry Alan Towers — (* 19. Oktober 1920 in London; † 31. Juli 2009) war ein englischer Filmproduzent und Drehbuchautor. Leben Towers verfasste zunächst unter dem Pseudonym Peter Welbeck mehrere Romane, ehe er seit 1946 Filmdrehbücher schrieb. Schon während des… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Peter Welbeck — Harry Alan Towers (* 19. Oktober 1920 in London) ist ein englischer Filmproduzent. Harry Alan Towers verfasste zunächst unter dem Pseudonym Peter Welbeck mehrere Romane, ehe er seit 1946 Filmdrehbücher schrieb. Schon während des Zweiten… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Nicky Henson — Born Nicholas Victor Leslie Henson 12 May 1945 (1945 05 12) (age 66) London, England, UK Occupation Actor Years active 1964–present …   Wikipedia

  • Christoph Waltz — bei der Oscarverleihung 2010 Christoph Waltz (* 4. Oktober 1956 in Wien) ist ein österreichischer[1] Schauspieler, der auch die deutsche Staatsbürgerschaft besitzt. Im deutschen Sprachraum ist er seit Jahren ein vielbeschäftigter Theater …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”