The Girl on the Train

Intense films about murder involving love, revenge, blackmail and lust are always great fodder for an intensely written screenplay. Look at 2014's "Gone Girl" written by Gillian Flynn, and you'll be able to see that "The Girl on the Train" certainly has a similar flavor. I believe what makes these types of films so increasingly addictive to audiences is the voyeuristic approach in which these are conveyed and the ultimate revenge that occurs after an intense situation eventually goes awry and all hell breaks loose.

This is the story of Rachel Watson's life, post-divorce. Every day, Rachel (Emily Blunt) takes the train in to work in New York, and every day the train passes by her old house, the house she lived in with her husband, Tom (Justin Theroux) who still lives there with his new wife, Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) and child. As she attempts to not focus on her pain, she starts watching a couple who live a few houses down-- Megan (Haley Bennett) and Scott Hipwell (Luke Evans). She creates a wonderful dream life for them in her head, about how they are a perfect happy family. And then one day, as the train passes, she sees something shocking, filling her with rage. The next day, she wakes up with a horrible hangover, various wounds and bruises, and no memory of the night before. She has only a feeling: something bad happened. Then come the TV reports: Megan Hipwell is missing. Through being interrogated by Detective Riley (Allison Janney), Rachel becomes invested in the case and trying to find out what happened to Megan, where she is, and what exactly she herself was up to that same night Megan went missing.

Others to round the cast are Edgar Ramirez as Dr. Kamal Abdic, Laura Prepon as Cathy, friend of Rachel's, Lisa Kudrow as Martha and Darren Goldstein as Man in the Suit.

This was grittily directed by Tate Taylor ("Pretty Ugly People" '08, "The Help" '11, "Get on Up" '14) plus TV and a short. Certainly where this filmmaker lacks in experience, he more than makes up for in quality. By his very resume, his expertise as a director has been delineated carefully in everything he's helmed. He is able to capture a certain character that his actors will portray in a believable, tangible way so as to convey to his audience the richness of the individual characters. It was tightly written by Erin Cressida Wilson based on the novel by Paula Hawkins. As stated in the preface of this, even though this script has a similar flavor of the film, "Gone Girl", the premise was certainly different and the outcome as equally diverse. What is interesting is, like with so many other screenwriters in this biz, they typically cast and writes psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, and the like as ineffective, predatory 'professionals' with, somehow, another agenda given their particular character, which certainly sends a message that these people are not legitimate. It's a sad commentary in our society when this alludes a common element. Otherwise, with the exception of a couple of small choppy areas of storyline, this script was cohesive, tight all the while keeping you on the edge of your proverbial seat.

Was this film shocking? Probably not. Surprising? This is certainly a more descript adjective. Intensity, fraught with creepy overtones is more to the point, and if the storyline doesn't grab you, Blunt's character as Rachel will in spades.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                 Rated: R                                111mins.