Review of TransSiberian (2008) by Chris H — 27 Dec 2009

Some have found it hard to get on board with Anderson's offbeam sense of humour, and - as with "The Machinist" - "Transsiberian" continually straddles the funny-strange/funny-ha ha divide: even at the moments of highest tension, the train's PA system delights in pumping out familiar easy-listening hits.

Yet Anderson's adapting well to the situations (and countries) his funding puts him in, and able to find new tricks in his actors. Harrelson is being miscast every which way these days; I'm not sure I buy him entirely as a trainspotter ("Coal burners! I'm in heaven!"), but he seems to be enjoying himself whenever he's on screen, and his deference, even to those pointing a gun at him, is the film's funniest joke.

Noriega is an effective, leering presence, and Mortimer a little less of a pusharound than she usually is. What's meant to be a major reversal around the hour mark doesn't quite come off - you can see it coming down the tracks from some distance - but the rest is compiled with a certain connoisseurial glee, teasing and playing with our sympathies, and finally able to sell you on even the hokiest of its plot points (a window that never opens, a working knowledge of diesel engines) with a knowing wink and a grin.