Review of The Girl on the Train (2016) by Greatmartin — 07 Oct 2016

In a movie that runs 112 minutes when 90 of those minutes take setting up the denouncement in a slow, sometimes boring, sometimes confusing way the payoff doesn't work.

I really didn't know who the villain was in "The Girl on a Train" but it wasn't that surprising, no OMG! moment.

None is this is the fault of the actors though Emily Blunt in the lead role plays a one note role that is hampered by her having to do way too much narration. Halley Bennett and Rebecca Ferguson, though both are beautiful women, look too much alike which can make watching the film confusing though there really isn't any reason for them to look so much alike. I, eventually, kept an eye on the necklace Bennet wore to differentiate them though in their scenes together that wasn't a problem. Ferguson has one very brief, very funny, possibly inappropriate in the film.

Maybe this needed an Alfred Hitchcock to make it the psychological thriller it wants to be but neither director Tate Taylor or writer Erin Cressida Wilson bring that feeling to the screen.

If you think scenes aboard trainsd or long shots of a sleek looking train riding on rail along a coast "The Girl On A Train" might not even be for you though there are many of both. Though the book by Paula Hawkins sold millions of copies I think the readers will be more disappointed in this film than I was.