Film

Money Train

Name: Money Train
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
Released: 1995
Cast: Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, Jennifer Lopez, Robert Blake, Chris Cooper

A slick 1995 action-comedy about two foster-brother transit cops in New York, one of whom plans to steal the money train while the other tries to stop him. It's propulsive, funny, and gorgeously shot, trading gritty realism for the kind of mid-90s Hollywood excess that makes no apologies for being pure spectacle. For anyone who loves that sweet spot where action, humour, and style converge.

TMDb rating

2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy loud, leather-jacketed 1990s buddy capers where the bickering between two mismatched men carries more charm than the plot does.

Skip it if you want a tight, grounded crime story; this one runs on noisy set pieces, broad jokes and a mood that rarely settles into anything subtle.

What it asks of you: Settle in for about two hours of brisk, sometimes scattershot energy, with the comedy and explosions arriving in rapid bursts rather than slow-building dread.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Point Break1991

Two charismatic leads, impossible stunts, and a premise so audacious it loops back to poetry. Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze create real tension between duty and loyalty while surfing and skydiving look impossibly cool.

But The philosophical monologues can feel overwrought, and the plot is deliberately thin—if you need tight narrative logic, you'll feel frustrated.

Bad Boys1995

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence weaponise their chemistry into 118 minutes of crackling buddy-cop action. Fast, genuinely funny, and Michael Bay's camera makes Miami look like the world's most expensive nightclub.

But The sexism hasn't aged well, and if you find the buddy-cop formula exhausting, this won't convert you—it's the formula turned up to eleven.

Passenger 571992

Wesley Snipes at peak charisma on a hijacked plane, solving problems with intelligence and style. Tight, efficient, genuinely suspenseful, with a hero who's clever rather than just invincible.

But It's lean to the point of spareness—there's barely a subplot, and if you want character depth or emotional stakes beyond the immediate threat, you'll go hungry.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Money Train

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Jackie Brown1997

Both films are obsessed with style and cool, but Jackie Brown proves that style can coexist with genuine emotional weight and character depth—it's what Money Train reaches for but Money Train is too restless to hold.

Tarantino's most generous film and his least showy—a character study wrapped in a crime plot, moving at the pace of real human beings who happen to be thieves and cops. Pam Grier commands it completely. Beautiful, funny, and achingly human.

But It's deliberately slow, and there's less violence and pyrotechnics than you might expect from a crime film of that era. Patience is the price of entry.

The Hidden1987

Kyle MacLachlan and Michael Nouri stumble into the perfect buddy-cop chemistry while hunting an alien predator. Genuinely inventive sci-fi wrapped in a crime-procedural coat, funny and disturbing in equal measure.

But The practical effects show their age, and the alien design is deliberately grotesque—if body horror bothers you, it bothers you throughout.

Tropic Thunder2008

A comedy that understands action movies so well it can savage them. Three leads at their sharpest, a jungle setting played completely straight while the script demolishes Vietnam-movie clichés with surgical precision.

But The satire works fastest if you've seen the films it's satirising; if action cinema isn't in your bones, some jokes will whisper past you.

Lethal Weapon1987

Mel Gibson and Danny Glover created the template for the mismatched buddy-cop film—and it still works. Absurdly fun, genuinely tense in turns, with a script that trusts its actors to find humanity inside the mayhem.

But It's become foundational to a genre, so it can feel familiar or worn; the action is less kinetic than modern audiences expect.

Rapid Fire1992

Brandon Lee playing a college student who stumbles into witness protection and then kung-fu action. It's pulpy and propulsive, shot with real style, and carries the weight of Lee's presence before tragedy overtook him.

But The plot is genuinely nonsensical once you think about it, and the dialogue exists purely to move you toward the next action sequence.

Murder at 16001997

Wesley Snipes and Michael Keaton team as a detective and Secret Service agent solving a murder in the White House. The chemistry is sharp, the setting is inherently fascinating, and it moves with real purpose.

But It's a by-the-numbers thriller that doesn't surprise you, and the urgency occasionally feels manufactured rather than earned.

Demolition Man1993

Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes in a utopian future where crime is impossible—until Snipes shows up. Absurdly inventive, genuinely thoughtful about freedom and order, and committed to its own silliness.

But The action feels dated, and the film's reach often exceeds its grasp; it wants to be smarter than its budget sometimes permits.

After Hours1985

Both are kinetic night-city films where geography and momentum matter as much as plot, and both trust their energy to carry you forward—but After Hours weaponises surrealism where Money Train stays in reality.

Martin Scorsese directing a comedy-thriller through downtown New York at night: escalating absurdity, real danger, and a protagonist who can't catch a break. Griffin Dunne sweating through increasingly insane situations while the city becomes a maze.

But The tone is deliberately fractured and the night never quite coheres into narrative sense—if you need events to make causal logic, this will feel like watching someone's fever dream.

Bullet Train2022

Both films prove that a moving train is a perfect contained universe for chaos and character collision—but Bullet Train was made 27 years later with every lesson learned, and it shows.

A packed train, multiple assassins with no idea why they're there, and a script that moves so fast it feels like action comedy unchained. Brad Pitt as a Zen hitman, visual storytelling that reminds you why trains are great locations, and genuine surprises.

But The quips come so relentlessly they can feel exhausting, and the violence is cartoonish in a way that might feel glib if you're not in the right mood for it.