Review of Derailed (2005) by Markb. — 21 Nov 2005

America's Favorite Friend meets The Man who Shoulda Been Bond; both play significantly against type, and the result looks very good on both of them. Suburban everyman Clive Owen is enticed into an affair with an appealing but equally committed train passenger (Jennifer Aniston), whom he meets while running late for work; the resulting unforeseen complications (to use an understatement), to say nothing of Owen's complete inexperience, fear and sheer wimpiness in dealing with them, cause him to dig himself deeper and deeper into a hole that not only offers no way out but threatens to suck his family and everything else he holds dear in as well.

Obviously, this very effective, smartly and atmospherically directed thriller conjures up memories of Fatal Attraction--and just as obviously it's not going to cause even a small ripple of the tidal wave caused by that 18-year-old pop culture sensation, but I liked the central contrast between the "hero's" motivation in both films: Michael Douglas' wife, family and world are so perfect before he impulsively threatens to destroy it all on a selfish whim that audience members are completely justified in asking (to themselves or out loud) if he's got a screw loose or what.

On the other hand, Owen, quite realistically, is battling so many marital, family and on-the-job pressures that it's much easier to understand if not justify his spur-of-the-moment decision to "take a break".

Owen as an actor is so effective at playing seemingly coldblooded, heartless characters (Croupier, Closer) that watching him display vulnerability, weakness and even compassion seems like a real discovery; director Mikael Hafstrom is equally effective at turning the thermostat down on Aniston's typical trademark warmth.

As a thriller Derailed works so well most of the way, and so persuasively convinced me that it wasn't going to let me down that I was doubly disappointed when it finally did; of its many Big Twists, there was one that I predicted early on before the movie later talked me out of it only to double back and fool me AGAIN, while another had me quickly out of my seat clawing ceiling tiles.

Sadly, like Fatal Attraction, Derailed cops out in the home stretch by feeling the need to reassure rather than respect its audience; it's not only ethically right that certain characters need to face the full consequences of their actions and failures, but given how honestly Derailed worked most of the way, it's organically necessary as well.

But instead of going all the way and being truly cathartic, Derailed opts to go soft on us; the result is the difference between a great suspense movie and nine-tenths of a good one--and unfortunately, that's just enough of a miscalculation to cause this sleek,fast-moving train to jump the tracks.