‘Train’s’ on Collision Course With Reality

Los Angeles, the city so enamored of televised car chases, no doubt will be mesmerized by the train chase in NBC’s flashy two-part movie “Atomic Train.”

In Denver, however, the network affiliate has opted to show other programs Sunday and Monday evenings. That city has had enough of tragedy lately, and its affiliate couldn’t bear to air this movie about a runaway train--loaded with hazardous materials and an atomic bomb--roaring toward the Mile High City.

In an attempt (or so it claims) to keep from misinforming the public, NBC is, meanwhile, hurriedly tacking on a disclaimer and making selective edits. (The new version was not available for review.)

Both actions point up the fact that “Atomic Train” is dealing, in more than one sense, with potentially explosive material--for, while it offers high-speed thrills, it is also packed with images that are hauntingly similar to what fills our newscasts: stunned refugees, gun terror, metal-twisted wrecks, rogue militias and more. If you’re looking for escapist entertainment this will merely remind you of what you’re trying to escape.

Directed by Dick Lowry and David Jackson from a teleplay by D. Brent Mote and Phil Penningroth, “Atomic Train” is an action movie that also spotlights concerns about trains and other vehicles carrying hazardous materials through the nation’s backyards. The movie’s lapses and coincidences stretch the limits of probability, but Part 1 moves so quickly that there’s no time to think about any of that.

Rob Lowe plays a Denver-based National Transportation Safety Board investigator who happens to be in the area when the train loses its brakes and is pointed, downhill, at the city. Dropping onto the speeding train from a helicopter is just the first of many death-defying acts he will attempt as he tries to save his family (Kristin Davis, Mena Suvari, Sean Smith) and the rest of Denver. As another locomotive races to try to catch, latch on to and stop the runaway, a news chopper transmits developments.

Meanwhile, in the increasingly panicked city, Esai Morales plays a hotheaded cop trying to look out for his ex-wife and son (now Lowe’s wife and stepson), and Erik King is a rookie policeman with his pregnant wife (Karen Holmes) in tow, trying to clear a blocked road out of town.

Part 2, dealing with the aftermath, slows down, and the gaps in logic become more difficult to ignore. The acting never strains credibility, however, with Lowe making the strongest (and most endearing) impression as an action hero who never fails to say thanks for assistance, even when he’s hanging onto the side of a runaway train.

* “Atomic Train” airs Sunday and Monday at 9 p.m. on NBC. The network has rated it TV-14 (may be inappropriate for children younger than 14).