Thursday, 13 October 2016

Derailed: Review of The Girl On The Train

The Girl On The Train

Director: Tate Taylor

By Alex Watson



Book adaptations often divide fan opinions, but in the case of Tate Taylor's adaptation of Paula Hawkins popular thriller The Girl On The Train, the cries of anguish have been loud. Many fans were upset by the unnecessary changing of the story from London to New York and by the casting of Emily Blunt who was deemed 'too beautiful' for the role by Hawkins herself. While it may not be a complete disaster, this movie drops well short of the expectations and what could have been a well-crafted thrill ride turns into a ride to nowhere.

Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt) is an alcoholic divorcee who still pines for her former life with ex-husband Tom (Justin Theroux). Taking the same train every day, she sees him playing happy family with the woman he left her for Anna (Rebecca Ferguson). On the same train, she observes the couple next door Scott (Luke Evans) and Megan (Haley Bennett) who to Rachel seem to like the perfect couple. When Megan goes missing and is presumed dead, Rachel takes it upon herself to find out what happened. By involving herself in her old world and invading other people's lives a dangerous path follows.

While the moving of location to New York might be one of the stronger points of The Girl On The Train it lacks the needed tension that book gave in buckets. The early train rides past her old neighborhood in upstate New York are breathtaking. We feel the pain as the train stops and forces her to gaze upon her husband living in their old house with the woman who ruined things.  Another plus point is how Tate Taylor with brutal honesty demonstrates the effects of Rachel's alcoholism and how her misery has compiled from her self-loathing. Bitter about her divorce and unable to shake the past she is lost in a sea of despair and her constant appearances have caused friction. After waking from one particularly disturbing blackout, she is shaken to the core.

The skewed narrative does well to show Rachel as an unreliable narrator and its non-linear structure makes us second guess frequently. Permanently sozzled, we often wonder if Rachel is hiding something as she can never seem to remember anything "I'm not the girl I used to be" she denotes frequently. Investigating officer Detective Riley (Allison Janney) suspects she knows more but Rachel is unable to trace her steps. Megan and Scott represent everything she yearns for, but as events inform us all is not as it appears. While it is key to the plot, Megan's story feels undercooked and doesn't quite draw us in. Haley Bennett looks the part of the devoted wife, but she fails to really engage. Her supposedly volatile relationship with Scott is never properly explored and her sessions with the mysterious Dr. Kamal Abdic (Edgar Ramirez) fill more like fillers than actual plot devices.

Key to the fans frustration in The Girl On The Train is Erin Cressida Wilson's script, what starts as promising stuff soon ruins itself with its insistence on too many twists, the majority of which feel predictable and it lacks the suspense of the novel. The final act which was soon shocking on paper just feels bland and near laughable. Taylor tries to dress things up well, but his talented cast cannot bring this to fruition. The cinematography of Charlotte Bruus Christensen is the real star of the piece as through her gliding shots she draws the audience into the heart of things. She firmly captures the continual insomnia of Megan and Anna's restlessness with her perfect home life. One notable exception is watching Rachel waking up to more than a hangover in her room, through Christensen she wakes up to pools of vomit, blood, and a nasty head wound. This one scene is the element that changes the tide.

What holds the film together is an outstanding star turn by Emily Blunt who is proving herself a capable actress across multiple forms. Blunt does more than just capture Rachel's continual drunkenness she absolutely nails her fragility and disillusion of how her once perfect life has gone south. In one amazing monolog, she ably demonstrates the characters self-destruction, hatred, and her desperation. Mesmerizing throughout, Blunt holds the audience sympathy but never crosses over into alienating them. She also gives Rachel a good air of hope and we hope she finds the redemption she so needs. Many criticized Blunt as miscast in this role, but it is impossible to think of the picture working without her.

The Girl On The Train will go down as a badly missed opportunity, it might be a pretty looking ride but its lack of story will have fanatics steaming at the ears.

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