Review of Derailed (2002) by Phil H — 07 Apr 2012

So I was gonna watch the JCVD thriller called 'Derailed' but after the first five minutes I realised I had the wrong film haha so I stuck with this despite Aniston being involved.

Honestly I was pleasantly surprised with this thriller, you don't think its a thriller and you don't see the quite decent twist in the plot, but its actually pretty good. I won't go into the plot for fear of spoiling it but its all about double cross, setups, scams...basically naughty lying laced with blackmail.

Bottom line the film is carried by an excellent performance from Cassel who is really quite evil looking and convincingly aggressive. His scrawny frame is deceiving as is his change in character to get into Owen's life which gives him the kind of presence that sends shivers down your spine, the fact that he won't stop makes him nasty and scary.

Owen does a good job as the husband in dire straits as he battles against the demands of Cassel's character, he looks the everyman and plays it well. Unfortunately Aniston simply cannot shake her comedic background and just cannot convey a decent performance in drama as far as I'm concerned, she just isn't convincing, purely a TV actor period.

For some reason someone thought the casting of 'Xzibit' and 'RZA' was a good move for this film, errrr no, they add nothing in their roles and I don't understand why they were even considered when simple more toned down characters would have been better. And can someone explain to me whenever these 'musicians' are cast in films the end credits always seem to role with a lame rap song? is that part of their deal or something!? completely wrong choice of music for the end credits here, totally ruins the feel.

From a slow start which feels like its gonna be crap to a pretty good thriller which does get you involved as the plot gets deeper. I didn't see the plot U-turn and it really makes things interesting as you root for Owen's character, before that its a little annoying as you tend to blame Aniston for his ever mounting problems but after the twist you see why.