GIRL ON A TRAIN (4 out of 10) Directed by Tate Taylor; Written by Erin Cressida Wilson; Starring Emily Blunt, Luke Evans, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux and Rebecca Ferguson ; Rated R for violence, sexual content, language and nudity; 112 minutes; In wide release October 7, 2016.
It’s extremely rare to walk into a film completely blind, yet I was able to do that with “The Girl on a Train.” Somehow I was able to miss every trailer and TV spot and had only the recommendations of a few friends who had read the book to go on. It was refreshing to have no preconceived notion of what to expect, and with a “whodunit” type film such as this, that is the best way to approach it. Unfortunately, whether or not someone knows all the secrets going in will make no difference with this dull and dim witted film that wouldn’t even be worth seeing if not for Emily Blunt’s fantastic performance.
Rachel (Emily Blunt) rides the train to and from work and fantasizes about the people she sees in the houses she passes. Her main focus is on Scott and Megan Hipwell (Luke Evans and Haley Bennett, respectively) who she pictures as two people madly in love and deserving of the life she could never have. Coincidentally, they also live next door to her husband Tom (Justin Theroux) and his new wife Anna (Rebecca Ferguson). Rachel has become a severe alcoholic and during one of her blackout fugues sees something happen to Megan but loses the memories in a vodka fueled haze. She awakens with blood on her hands and must figure out a way to recover her lost memories before the police come after her for Megan’s disappearance.
There is one reason and one reason only to see “The Girl on a Train”, and that is for Emily Blunt’s performance. Simply put, Blunt is one of the best actresses working today, and it is fantastic to see her stretch herself to the limit in the complex role of Rachel. Few have the ability to portray such depth of emotion or strength of character with a simple dip of the head or bat of the eye as Blunt does, and she uses it to perfect effect here. As Rachel struggles to redeem herself and bring to light the tragic events of what took place, we want to see her succeed and eventually become a whole and happy person. None of this would have been accomplished without Blunt’s talent behind her.
Now for the bad news – there is pretty much nothing else worthwhile here. Director Tate Taylor has been rather successful with his previous films such as “Get on Up” and “The Help”, but it seems as if he forgot all the lessons he learned while working on those. The pace is methodically plodding with little happening for long stretches of time. While the film tops out at barely two hours, it feels much, much longer. An editor could have easily stepped in and carved out at least 30 minutes’ worth of unnecessary plot that would have streamlined the story and still gotten the entire point across.
I’m also surprised about the decision to make almost every female character completely powerless and under the command of the men in their life. Each bows to the demands of the male leads in an effort to appease their lusts, desires and anger. With the exception of the female cop, none ever stand up to those around them because they are portrayed as too feeble and defenseless solely because they are women. There is no real moment of redemption and one could argue the movie nearly glorifies domestic abuse which is completely abhorrent.
Aside from the acting, there really are no redeeming qualities here. Anyone who has to see this because they read and enjoyed the book will no doubt enjoy Emily Blunt’s performance, and since they already know the twist – which was apparent 1o minutes in – they won’t feel distracted or cheapened by it. As much as this wants to be “Gone Girl” it ends up being little more than fan fiction of the genre.
4 out of 10