Con Express is, at its heart, a low budget Die Hard / Speed hybrid. Terry Cunningham shows off his love for the high impact thrillers, but unfortunately not always his respect. There are times when you don’t notice the millions missing in the budget. The story, while it is a bit contrived, carries well throughout the entire film. My only complaint is that Cunningham saw fit to interrupt the film each time it started to flow with a senseless wraparound story of the hero being interviewed to take over the Customs office in Alaska. In an action film pacing is everything and the element most missing from Con Express.
Synopsis
Alaska Customs Agent Brooks (Flannery) is given a tip that a Russian mobster is planning to transport something “big”. He doesn’t know what it is only that it’s really big. When the defrocked Russian General (Voslo) is captured, we learn he was selling military grade nerve gas on the black market. Brooks teams with an attractive Russian agent (Kaven) with a personal vendetta against the general. A complicated shell game leads the agents to an unstoppable train and a corrupt customs agent.
Audio
The soundtrack is a standard grade Dolby 2.0 track. It delivers where it matters in the dialogue and better than average score. The bass was a little weak in places. I expected a little more oomph but it was always clean.
Video
Once again a film is presented in fullscreen pan and scan mode and listed as an extra feature. The transfer is surprisingly solid considering the format. I couldn’t find one film artifact. There was an acceptable amount of grain. Flesh tones were quite accurate and blacks were noticeably deep and pure.
Special Features
Sadly the only feature is a trailer.
Final Thoughts
Con Express would make a decent rental. It was fun to see Voslo in something other than his wonderful Mummy roles. I would have really liked to have seen his character used to greater effect and more in conflict with our heroes. There’s plenty of gunplay, explosions, and crashes to satisfy most action junkies. After all, “It’s a ruthless world we live in”.
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