Robert Bresson famously said, "Not beautiful images, but necessary images." At 89, Clint Eastwood has systematically stripped virtually all "prettiness" from his films - and in so doing, has found a certain kind of beauty. There are some filmmakers who inspire you to look a little differently at your surroundings. David Lynch is one. Jodorowsky is another. And so too is Eastwood, whose films illuminate the poetry in the crappy offices, diners, lobbies, parks, and apartment buildings that surround us.
Like The 15:17 to Paris, this is about an absolutely unremarkable man who is suddenly vaulted to Hero™ status by a whim of fate. As in Sully, his heroism immediately rouses the suspicion of Pencil-Pushing Bureaucrats Who Have Nothing Better To…