Plot: Charlie (Woody Harrelson) is a New York City transit cop with a mountain of gambling debts, and John (Wesley Snipes) is his responsible, and frequently exasperated, foster brother. They compete amicably for the affections of fellow officer Grace (Jennifer Lopez), but things become more serious when Charlie decides to rob the “money train” that carries the Transit Authority’s daily proceeds. John must decide whether to prevent Charlie’s crime or to join in on the heist.
When people talk about Christmas-set action movies few people ever mention Money Train starring Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes. They were a great duo in the 90’s also starring alongside each other in White Men Can’t Jump. In Money Train they play foster brothers called John (Snipes) and Charlie (Harrelson), so they have some witty banter back and forth which keeps thing light for the most part.
I could never take to Woody Harrelson’s character Charlie because as everyone says in the movie, he is a complete fuck-up… which is 100% true. He should have been arrested at the end because he deserved to learn the error of his ways and all he does is bring John down.
This was Wesley Snipes’ movie as he’s the true blue hero of the tale; he had some nice on-screen chemistry with Jennifer Lopez and their scenes were the best non-action moments of the film.
The script wasn’t quite as funny as it could have been and the story lacks urgency until the finale, but it does try something a little different and the action scenes are incredibly well executed. The climax on the Money Train is slick and exciting making the rest of the movie worth the build-up. There are several fight scenes throughout with Wesley Snipes doing what he does best and my favourite scene is the club scene where we hear Enigma’s I Love You I’ll Kill You before John beats up a bunch of goons.
The character of Patterson (Robert Blake) is a little cartoonish and the quite unhinged as he is weirdly obsessed with his train; he has some clunky dialogue occasionally as well, but noting too bad.
Chris Cooper plays arsonist The Torch and is suitably creepy although he’s more of a side character and I would have preferred to see him as the main antagonist.
I was reading on IMDb how “two days after the film opened, two men poured gasoline over a ticket booth on the Brooklyn subway and set it alight in an incident similar to the one depicted in the film. The booth attendant was burned and later died of his injuries. Consequently, New York City subway workers called for a boycott of the film and the removal of all the posters from every station. Senator Bob Dole quickly came out in support of them. Columbia Pictures refused to bow to their demands. As a result of the controversy, Chris Cooper, who portrayed the pyromaniac, would admit regretting participating in the film“. I had never heard that before and it’s understandable why Cooper distanced himself from the film even if he was good in it.
Mark Mancina provides a suitably adrenaline fuelled score and although not quite up there with his masterpiece Speed, it’s still thrilling at all the right moments.
Overall, Money Train is a fun action comedy with Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson making for an entertaining duo. It has a nice Christmas vibe while also having enough action to keep things moving. The finale on the train is still every bit as thrilling as it was 30 years ago and I could watch Wesley Snipes beat people up all day. Maybe it’s time for a new movie with Snipes and Harrelson together again as I miss seeing Wesley on the big screen (outside of Blade in Deadpool & Wolverine).