Review of The Girl on the Train (2016) by Maksim B — 08 Nov 2017

Slightly confusing and not as thrilling as expected, if approached with too high expectations, The Girl on The Train is pretty decent suspense which is highly recommended home cinema option for the late autumn evenings. Bolstered by the very convincing and solid performance of Emily Blunt it manages to overcome the initially slow pacing and even succeeds to deliver satisfying twist and very strong final part.

Rachel (Emily Blunt) is a devastated by her recent divorce alcoholic. Left with no friends, no money and still with her obsession with her former husband she see her ex-home every day while she is travelling with the train. Her endless nightmare gets even more complicated when she observes something mysterious to take place on the terrace of her ex-home. She gets involved in a mystery, in which nobody believes her, her compromised personality makes her even a suspect and she can barely follow what is happening.

Tate Taylor's adaptation of Paulo Hawkin's best-selling novel has all the necessary prerequisites to be a mind-gripping suspense thriller, but unfortunately due to the sloppy forth-and-back story-telling a big part of the charm is lost and the movie feel a bit generic and shallow.

Nevertheless, towards the second half of the film, and thanks to Blunt's dedicated and impactful performance, the stakes get higher and one could really feel a pleasing level of suspense and mystery. This definitely saves the movie from being a flop and it actually turns it into a pretty watchable home cinema entertainment.