This fast-paced thriller about two convicts whose bid for freedom becomes a desperate battle for survival aboard a runaway train is based on a screenplay co-written by celebrated Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. And that's what takes it a notch above the average Hollywood action film, as Jon Voight and Eric Roberts's prisoners have far more depth than your typical gung-ho heroes. Both landed Oscar nominations, as did Henry Richardson, whose dynamic editing gives Andrei Konchalovsky's superior direction the breakneck pace that will keep you on the edge of your seat. John P Ryan as a sadistic warden and Rebecca De Mornay as a trapped passenger also rise to the occasion.

A hardened convict and a younger prisoner escape from a brutal prison in the middle of winter only to find themselves on an out-of-control train with a female railway worker while being pursued by the vengeful head of security.