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Created May 14, 2014 09:14PM PST • Edited May 15, 2014 12:54PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Great 4.0

   Adult date night movies get no more surefire than The Railway Man. It starts with Nicole Kidman falling in love with Colin Firth on a train. He is – after all – the Railway Man. The pathos comes later, when we encounter the hell that Eric Lomax underwent as a POW, slave laborer for the infamous Japanese warcrime known as the Burma Railroad, literally Bridge on the River Kwai territory. Movie is sad & sweet – surefire.

   The life of Eric Lomax is movie worthy and Jeremy Irvine & Colin Firth are compelling as Young Eric & Not Young Eric respectively. Firth is entirely believable as a man who went through hell and isn’t dealing with it too well; Irvine, his younger, more endearing self. Kidman pushes The Railway Man over the top into moviestar heaven. It’s an excellent Nicole Kidman role for Nicole Kidman. Let’s thank our lucky stars.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   A large cast, headed by big names, performs exceedingly well.

   Colin Firth & Nicole Kidman top the cast as Eric & Patti Lomax, who had the ultimate second marriage.

   • Firth isn’t always to my taste, but doesn’t make a false move as the sainted Eric Lomax.
   • Kidman transfixes as a no longer young woman who finds love on a train. Almost mousy, if that can be said about Princess Nicole, her strength equals her beauty, a rare and precious quality that few actresses can embody. Queen Kidman should make lots more movies, a real Princess perhaps.

   • Jeremy Irvine is very appealing as Young Eric, bespectacled and forthright.
   • Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd is characteristically solid as Eric Lomax’s fellow POW survivor.
   • Tanroh Ishida & Hiroyuki Sanada are underwhelming and overwhelming as Young and Not Young Takeshi Nagase respectively. Sanada jumps off screen and Ishida doesn’t.

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

6. Female Stars Really Great 4.5

7. Female Costars Very Good 3.5

8. Male Costars Very Good 3.5

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    Well directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, competently written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Andy Paterson, from the amazing autobiography of Eric Lomax.

11. Direction Great 4.0

12. Play Great 4.0

13. Music Very Good 3.5

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 2.8

    Japanese water torture may have you averting your eyes on occasion.

17. Sex Titillating 2.1

18. Violence Savage 3.8

19. Rudeness Salty 2.5

21. Reality

    Glib 1.3

    Here are two reality references.

    • Historical Accuracy
    • HistoryVsHollywood.com on The Railway Man

22. Circumstantial Glib 2.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0