Review of TransSiberian (2008) by Spangle — 10 Aug 2016

Transsiberian is a fine film with solid performances from the entire cast, however, the proceedings fall apart a bit in the second half. During the first half, the film is packed with tense thrills and incredible amounts of mystery, keeping you glued to your seat.

However, in the second half, the film falters heavily. The tricks it pretended to have up its sleeve with not nearly worth it or downright predictable. At their worst, the plot elements in the second half become outlandish and wildly implausible, plus without reasonable explanation as to how certain things happen.

Instead, the film opts to rush its ending a bit and skip ahead, but the pieces it skips would make the ending actually make more sense. Instead, the film is emotionally distant and keeps the audience at an arm's length, keeping us in the dark while it feels as though the characters know more than we ever will.

That said, the film half is very well executed and incredibly tense. The acting is good throughout, plus the cinematography is quite good and the production design is very strong, especially aboard the train.

Overall, Transsiberian hits the brakes and skids on the tracks in the second half, but its strong first half comes close to overcoming those problems.