Synopsis – A divorcee becomes entangled in a missing persons investigation that promises to send shockwaves throughout her life.

My Take – Here comes another highly anticipated, hyped novel-to-film adaptation. The grand critical & commercial success of Gone Girl back in 2014 have seemed to breathe a new life into the genre of psychological dramatic thrillers. And being a fan of a fast paced thrillers with twists and turns that manage to keep me metaphorically on the edge of cinema seat, I went into this expecting a rollicking good fun psychological thriller as the trailers had led me to believe this might be the case for this film. This film is an adaption of Paula Hawkins‘ bestselling novel was only published last February starting at the No.1 slot for 13 consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list, only to return to No.1 again this January. It held the No.1 spot in the U.K. hardback chart for 20 weeks, the longest ever and is estimated to have already sold 11 million copies by August this year. So it’s not surprising studios wanted to get hold of a screenplay and make the film. I haven’t read the book but I can imagine the novel being the usual “better than the film” and that the suspense created by reading would be more intense. Luckily, the film is enjoyable thriller with an intriguing story surrounding the mysterious disappearance of one of the key characters. With a slow windup and quick delivery, the suspense thriller plays off as a knockoff combination of Hitchcock‘s Rear Window and Fincher‘s Gone Girl. It’s filled with suspense, drama, and mystery; and it features love, infidelity, loss, heartbreak, loneliness, depression, anxiety, alcoholism, mental unconsciousness, self-mental abuse, desire, sex, and murder.

This film will keep you guessing until the very end. The story follows Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt), a down-on-her-luck British woman living in New York who is a bit of a train wreck. Her husband Tom (Justin Theroux) left her and married his mistress Anna (Rebecca Ferguson). For two years, Rachel has been staying in a spare bedroom of a friend Cathy (Laura Prepon) and rides the train from Westchester County into New York City every work day while drinking and blacking out in despair. She obsessively sits where she can see the back of the house in which she used to live, when the train passes by her old neighborhood. Desperately watching her ex having a good life with his new wife and a new born daughter, When Rachel’s daily commute takes her through her old neighborhood, besides looking longingly at her old house, she also begins to obsess about the activity she sees at another house on her street – the home of Megan (Haley Bennett) , who happens to be the nanny of Tom & Anna’s daughter, and her husband Scott Hipwell (Luke Evans). When she sees Megan kissing another man i.e. Dr. Kamal Abdic (Édgar Ramírez) on her back porch, Rachel becomes angry that that woman who seems to have the perfect life is apparently “throwing it all away”. One day, Rachel gets off the train at her old stop and approaches Megan, whom she sees walking through a tunnel. Rachel then blacks out and can’t remember what happens next, but she wakes up the following morning, covered with vomit and blood. The news reports that Megan has gone missing. Rachel’s well-documented erratic behavior leads Detective Sgt. Riley (Allison Janey) to visit Rachel and question her about Megan’s disappearance. Rachel proclaims her innocence and injects herself into the investigation, befriending Scott Hipwell and becoming a patient of Dr. Abdic, while misrepresenting herself to both men. Her actions have unexpected positive results in Rachel’s life, but nothing is what it seems in this mystery. Although the story is told through the experiences of those three main female characters, it focuses on Rachel, who sometimes narrates parts of the story, and we see the action play out in the present and through a series of flashbacks. Rachel’s grief over the loss of her marriage dominates her thoughts and actions – and helps drive her almost constant drinking. She often calls her ex-husband and sometimes walks up and down her old street. She has even come by the house uninvited and once entered the home and picked up Evie because she “just wanted to hold her”. The first half is shot with a lot of style by director Tate Taylor, and then the second half focuses more on the story itself. Director Tate Taylor has previously been very good at making gritty dramas (such as Get On Up and The Help), and for the most part he does a decent job here. His characters are well fleshed out and interesting, and there’s a very strong, moody ambiance throughout the film. Given the mystery-suspense nature of the film, there isn’t a whole lot that I want to say, so as not to spoil anything, so let me offer a couple of general observations. I found the film quite similar in theme and spirit to Gone Girl, a nicely produced mystery-drama that keeps you guessing for a while. The narrative is absorbing in the sense that it fragments itself in order to provoke a sense of intrigue, and this is mostly successful and done with a sense of purpose. Both films employ creative story-telling and keep the audience guessing (if they haven’t already read the book). Both films are excellent adaptations of their source material and cast in the title role an actress who gives a truly outstanding performance.

One of the film’s major themes is projection and how we look to other people and not only make assumptions about them, but also how we find voyeuristic fulfillment in the very act itself. This is exemplified in Blunt‘s damaged character, who leads an empty life and attempts to fill it with fantasies and theories about relative strangers. The chasm between the truth and what we think we know as outsiders looking in is one of the biggest thematic concerns here, and the dispersed narrative approach coincides nicely with this. The film juggles different perspectives of these characters in a sometimes interesting, sometimes awkward way, jumping between different perspectives, flashbacks and cloudy moments when Rachel is drunk. This film was not easy to edit but I felt that the filmmakers did a good job keeping the film moving and clarifying flashbacks that took place earlier. I got to be involved with the story more because these characters are flawed and we see the danger of what happens when someone starts to snap when some secrets are being spilled out in the most inopportune moment. Plus, you have an actress like Emily Blunt in your film, which makes it work even more, even when you feel like you’re being lost in the confused suburban melodrama of it all. And the twist at the end doesn’t feel very obvious with a surprising additional character added into the mix. The three women are terrifically played as icy, complex and sometimes troubled women and each of their stories do connect, even if you didn’t notice it. Much of the film was shrouded in secrecy, in fact, the trailers didn’t spoil as much of the film as I thought they did. I can’t say the film gave me the heart-pounding thrills or jaw-dropping reveals I was hoping for as promised by those trailers, but it’s not like I came away with a bad film going experience. It’s just not the film I thought I was getting. Directed by Tate Taylor, the man behind the brilliant 2011 drama, The Help, does a good job with this story, it’s just that I think it needed a different viewpoint and take. A thriller is supposed to keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end, and while it has its thrills, I can’t say it had the consistent edgy feel that I wanted it to. The first 20 minutes of the film introduces all of the characters in an unimaginable way, it was literally 4 minutes with each character and then the story starts. Due to this structure, the first half of the film does have pacing issues and it does take some time to become fully invested in the story. There are also a few slow motion scenes that are choppily edited, probably to resemble the alcohol taking effect, but the continuous use of this method did seem outdated. Also, I wanted to see more Lisa Kudrow! You can’t use an actress from Friends for just 5 minutes, give her more screen time! This film’s ensemble certainly deserves credit for bringing the tale to life. Emily Blunt is just brilliant! This is a complex and totally different performance from what we have seen Blunt deliver before. She is outstanding; damaged, conflicted, helpless and passionate, it’s a role which asks a lot from Blunt but she hits the mark. It’s convincingly ambiguous, credit for this must also go to Taylor whose direction never allows us to truly sympathize or side with any of these characters. Blunt‘s conviction makes it that much harder to support this supposed “hero” of the story. Luke Evans offers yet another ambiguous and intriguing performance for the film. Allison Janney & Laura Prepon are delightful despite their limited screen time. Haley Bennett has less emotion to cover, but portrays depression quite realistically in terms of emotional bluntness seen in the disorder. Justin Theroux and Edgar Ramirez are also great. As for Rebecca Ferguson, the third leading lady must have a jealous house wife inside of her, for she nails the distrustful nature down to the letter. Lisa Kudrow, who appears in only two scenes is as always likable. On the whole, ‘The Girl on the Train’ is a thrilling captivating dark thriller, which despite a few stumbles and genre flatness is elevated by a sensational and complex performance from Emily Blunt. If you’re looking for a fun suspense-thriller to watch this weekend, then this one may fit the bill. Just don’t expect the ride to be as crazy as Gone Girl.

Directed – Tate Taylor

Starring – Emily Blunt,  Haley Bennett,  Rebecca Ferguson

Rated – R

Run Time – 112 minutes