''Death, Deceit and Destiny Aboard the Orient Express'' is a 2000

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

about a group of international

terrorists Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

who, a few days before the start of the new millennium, lure a group of very rich celebrities and businesspeople on board the

Orient Express The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe and int ...

from

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

in order to extort large sums of money from them. The

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

for the movie was written by Peter Welbeck (aka

Harry Alan Towers Harry Alan Towers (19 October 1920 – 31 July 2009) was a British radio and independent film producer and screenwriter. He wrote numerous screenplays for the films he produced, often under the pseudonym Peter Welbeck. He produced over 80 ...

) and Peter Jobin. The film, which was directed by

Mark Roper Mark Roper (born 16 March 1958) is a South African writer and film director. He worked mainly as assistant director on more than forty films since 1984. Selected filmography *''Project Shadowchaser IV'' (1996) *''Death, Deceit and Destiny Aboar ...

, starred

Richard Grieco Richard John Grieco Jr. (born March 23, 1965) is an American actor and former fashion model. He played Detective Dennis Booker in the popular Fox series ''21 Jump Street'' (1988–89) and its spin-off ''Booker'' (1989–90). He has also starred ...

, Joanna Bukovska,

Romina Mondello Romina Mondello (born 1 March 1974) is an Italian actress and television personality. Life and career Born in Rome, at young age Mondello attended a theater workshop under the stage director Candido Coppetelli and studied singing and classical ...

Christoph Waltz Christoph Waltz (; born 4 October 1956) is an Austrian-German actor. Since 2009 he has been primarily active in the United States. His accolades include two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two British Academy Film Awards and two Sc ...

Sendhil Ramamurthy Sendhil Amithab Ramamurthy (born May 17, 1974) is an American actor. A native of San Antonio, Texas, Ramamurthy is best known for his roles as geneticist Mohinder Suresh in the NBC sci-fi drama ''Heroes'', Gabriel "Gabe" Lowan in ''Beauty and t ...

and

Götz Otto Götz Otto (born 15 October 1967) is a German film and television actor who is perhaps best known internationally for his roles as henchman Richard Stamper in the 1997 James Bond film ''Tomorrow Never Dies'', as Adolf Hitler's adjutant Otto Gün ...

Plot

When an anonymous benefactor invites a party of celebrities and business magnates to a New Year's celebration aboard the Orient Express, it is the guests' greed which brings them all together. Apart from an enjoyable free trip on the luxury train, the businessmen among the passengers also expect to make a lucrative deal. However, just outside Paris the whole train is taken over by terrorists—without anybody noticing. Jack Chase (Richard Grieco), a young American actor who has also been invited, realizes that one of the waiters is missing but does not know that he has been killed together with all his colleagues. Very soon the passengers sense that something is wrong. For example, a powerful jamming station on board the train ensures that they cannot contact the outside world via their

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

s. Then, before dinner, they get to know their host: It is Tarik (Christoph Waltz), a well-known, internationally wanted

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

terrorist, who communicates with them via interactive television. Tarik announces the "

Fundamentalist Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishing ...

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

", the "victory of

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...

over

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

", and demands one tenth of each of his hostages' fortunes. Tarik himself is in fact on the train disguised as a cook, but no one has so far found out. The captives also learn that the terrorists have rigged the train with explosives: If the train slows, stops or passes the midnight hour the bombs are rigged to blow. Predictably, the passengers try to do something about their predicament. While the businessmen ponder the question of whether to pay up or not, it is the women who take an active part in fighting the terrorists, most notably Nadia (Joanna Bukovska), a young

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n dancer who has fallen in love with Chase and who even saves his life when he is attacked by one of the thugs. The couple secretly climb on the roof of the train and succeed in finding some of the explosives. In the end, shortly before their arrival in Istanbul, the

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

, with Tarik in it, is uncoupled from the rest of the train and blown to pieces by the bombs planted by the terrorist himself. Although the film was released long before the

September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

, the character of Tarik is a thinly disguised

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

. There are also some minor but obvious parallels to the

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

film ''

Murder on the Orient Express ''Murder on the Orient Express'' is a work of detective fiction by English writer Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 1 January 1934. In the U ...

'', which is based on an

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

novel. These parallels almost exclusively concern the setting and the constellation of characters: There are no similarities whatsoever regarding the plot.

Cast

as Jack Chase *

Nicky Henson Nicky Henson ( Nicholas Victor Leslie Henson; 12 May 1945 – 15 December 2019) was a British actor. Early life Nicholas Victor Leslie Henson was born in London, the son of Harriet Martha ( Collins) and comedian Leslie Henson. Adam Henson, a fa ...

as Tom Finlay * Barry Flatman as Reid Archer *

Jennifer Nitsch Jennifer Nitsch (Cologne, December 10, 1966 – Munich, June 13, 2004) was a German television actress. Selected filmography * 1989: ', as Silke * 1991: ', as Anette * 1993: ''A Man for My Wife'' (TV film), as Martina * 1993: ''Gefährliche Ve ...

as Rita Evans *

Lou Hirsch Lou may refer to: __NOTOC__ Personal name * Lou (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Lou (German singer) *Lou (French singer) * Lou (surname 娄), the 229th most common surname in China * Lou (surname 楼), the 269th most common ...

as Fred Wallace * Gotz Otto as Boris *

as Klara *

as Ossama / Tarik * Yoanna Boukovska as Nadia * Hunter Phoenix as Natasha * Nina Muschallik as Polly *

as Nikki * Jana Karaivanova as Imogen * Anjela Lauren Smith as Nora *

Hristo Shopov Hristo Naumov Shopov ( bg, Христо Наумов Шопов; born 4 January 1964) is a Bulgarian actor. Shopov's father, Naum Shopov, was a famous Bulgarian actor as well. He is most noted for his 2004 portrayal of Pontius Pilate in Mel Gi ...

as Chief Du Train * Dechko Chuntov as Terrorist Leader * Ilian Simeonov as Terrorist * Delyan Dabov as Evil Barman * Antonio Milenov as Evil Steward #1 * Emil Videv as Evil Steward #2 * Michail Elenov as Evil Steward #3 * Hristo Paskalev as Evil Waiter #1 * Daniel Tzotchev as Evil Waiter #2 * Petia as Girl #1 * Rada as Girl #2

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Death, Deceit And Destiny Aboard The Orient Express Canadian thriller films Bulgarian thriller films 2000 films English-language Canadian films English-language Bulgarian films Films about terrorism Films about hostage takings Films shot in Bulgaria Films set on the Orient Express Films scored by Stelvio Cipriani 2000s English-language films Films directed by Mark Roper 2000s Canadian films