Review of TransSiberian (2008) by Austin K — 25 Dec 2009

"Kill off all my demons, Roy, and my angels might die, too.".

A Trans-Siberian train journey from China to Moscow becomes a thrilling chase of deception and murder when an American couple encounters a mysterious pair of fellow travelers.

REVIEW.

The kind of film that really drives me nuts: it starts off great, continues to be so for a majority of its run, and then just messes things up completely. Transsiberian is a thriller starring Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer as an American couple who are traveling from Beijing to Moscow on train after completing some charity work. They meet a young couple (Kate Mara and Eduardo Noriega) who seem interesting, but who may be up to no good. It'd be wrong to say more about the plot. The film is effectively gripping through most of its run. Emily Mortimer, one of my favorite working young actresses, has been unfortunate not to have many starring roles up to now, but Transsiberian gives her a nice juicy one to sink her teeth into. This is all her movie. Harrelson is okay, but his character is nowhere near as complex as hers. Ben Kingsley also stars, and is as good as ever. As I suggested earlier, there's a twist in the final half hour which harms the picture irrevocably. The film goes from being a crackerjack thriller, truly something Hitchcock might have produced, to a very silly one (which Hitchcock might have produced, too, but only on a bad day). And the final scene makes no sense whatsoever. Still, even when the film gets into the silly territory, it's rather entertaining.