The Girl on the Train

Cast: Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett, Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Allison Janney and Lisa Kudrow.

Director: Tate Taylor

Release Date: 2016

Running Time: 1hr 52 minutes

Genre: Drama/mystery

Rating: R

Synopsis:

Everyday Rachel takes the train to work in New York and everyday the train passes her old house. Her husband now lives there with his new wife and their child. On her travels she starts to notice a couple who live a few hours down, Megan and Scott Hipwell, then one day she notices something shocking....filing her with rage.

This is a film adaption of Paula Hawkins best selling novel. There have certainly been mixed feelings about this, I do think it's very hard to adapt a novel into film that everyone is going to enjoy, even J.K Rowlings Harry Potter had issues when adapted for screen. Tate Taylor who directs the movie also brought us another fantastic novel adaption "The Help" which starred Bryce Dallas Howard and Emma Stone. Emily Blunt steals the show as the lead character Rachel, a divorced alcoholic who travels to and throw to New York everyday. Emily's certainly made a name for herself over the past couple of years with hit movies like "Into the Woods" and "Edge of Tomorrow" where she starred alongside Tom Cruise. Emily delivers a brilliant performance in this film.

I love that screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson has really used Paula Hawkins work to her advantage. Immediately we are shown the perspectives of Rachel, Megan and Anna just like the novel naturally insisted upon. We are able to understand each character from their own perspective, it becomes apparent that Megan is seeing a therapist (Edgar Ramirez) and that Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) is now married to Tom, Rachel's ex husband. It also becomes apparent that Rachel might still be in love with him. I don't care for Taylors directing style very much, moments of this movie make you almost feel dizzy due to the camera shaking about so much. There are however some lovely close up shots of Rachel on the train and some beautiful aerial shots of the train and the city in which it's based. Another disappointment I have is that Taylor chose to shoot this movie in New York and not in London, where Hawkins had originally based the novel, for me personally it looses that eary atmosphere which was so beautifully described in the book.

Portraying someone drunk is no easy task, however Emily Blunt delivers a very convincing performance. Despite a director having to adapt a novel for film, I respect some changes are going to be made, but why they feel the need to leave our key elements or change the location is another matter. In some aspects it takes away the story. I find it very hard to watch this when in my imagination I pictured London just as Paula Hawkins had, seeing the suburbs of New York, don't quite do it for me, it takes away the mystery somewhat. Luke Evans delivers a very thrilling performance as Scott, his characterization is spot on, you can practically feel the tension oozing from him.

As a whole I am quite disappointed with this film, I don't particularly like the way Taylor has shot this film as I mentioned before. It's a very dark film in terms of lighting which in some respects does add to the mystery of the story, however steals the reality of everyday life too. The fact that it's shot in New York and not in London ruins it a lot for me personally. When reading the novel, it was truly thrilling, I was just dying to know what happened next and find out who the killer was, apart from Emily Blunt's portrayal as Rachel the other characters have next to no characterization what so ever and appear to talk in a very monotone voice. Where are their emotions? Your wife has gone missing? Where's the fear and emotion that comes with that? I feel like Taylor tried to keep too much of this film a mystery, to a point he missed out on the big picture, that his characters aren't particularly convincing. This film should be making my heart race but instead it's like watching a very boring stage performance, in which three people narrate to one another.

The soundtrack is disappointing too, absolutely no emotion and the vast majority of the movie far too quiet. It doesn't add to any of the emotion of the film, or the characters, and certainly not the story. I'm so dissapointed with this film, it could have been excellent. More effort could have definitely been put into the characters, a much more intense soundtrack and more impressive use of photography. This could have been a fantastic thriller, sadly from my point of view it wasn't. This was perceived as more of a drama then a thriller. It's a shame to know this film adaption didn't sadly do as well as the best selling novel.

2/5 stars