15:17 to Paris tells the true story of three men, Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone, who thwarted a terrorist attack on a train. The movie shows the three boys growing up together and displays their close friendship throughout the years. As they are travelling through Europe in their twenties, they get on a train to Paris where a terrorist has a gun with 300 rounds of ammunition. Together, the boys work together to take down the gunman and to save a wounded passenger.

One of the greatest downfalls of the film is that the boys are played by themselves, which means that the acting is definitely limited. Though they aren’t great actors, I felt like I was getting a better version of the truth than if it had been played by “real” actors. I know that these boys had a vested interest in not dramatizing what happened. This was closer to a documentary than a movie, but it never felt like that.

Going into the movie, I was definitely expecting something very action packed; however, that is not what I got. The movie begins by showing their camaraderie throughout their lives. Their biggest strength throughout the movie is their friendship.

Eastwood portrayed a message that I was not prepared for, but actually thought was much better than what I was expecting. Instead of focusing on their heroism, Eastwood focused on how normal they are. They were extremely normal students who got into a lot of trouble, they were normal boys who were having a good time in the club the day before. The message wasn’t that they were heroic, but that you could be heroic too.

Though it was slow at times, I felt that the overall movie was really well done. The way in which Eastwood told this story was unexpected, but it definitely worked for me. Their bravery is inspiring, especially because they really aren’t that special. I would rate this movie a 4/5.