Girl on the Train

To say the least, "The Girl On The Train" is a very dark movie. Unsettling. Confusing. Even baffling. There's an uneasy feel to this from the start. Something's off. Something's not right. Is this even reality, or is it a fantasy taking place inside the mind of a very disturbed woman? The disturbed woman in this case is Rachel (Emily Blunt.) She's an alcoholic and rides the same train every day, past the house where she used to live with her ex-husband. She sees their neighbours, and wonders about them and about their relationship. The female neighbour is the nanny to her ex-husband, his new wife and their baby. The movie mixes the story of all three (Rachel, Anna - the new wife, and Megan - the nanny) together. What drives it forward is that Megan has gone missing, and the question is what happened to her and who was responsible.

For a while I found this an unpleasant movie to watch. To be honest, I had to turn it off at about the half hour mark. It wasn't hitting home with me. But there was something about it that drew me back; I needed to see how this was going to turn out. In the end I was glad that I did. It overcomes the bleakness of the first half hour and although it still seems to walk the line uneasily between fantasy and reality, the mystery involved gets more and more engrossing, and the plot twist (you knew something had to be coming) happens with about a half hour to go - and it was, to me at least, completely unexpected. Not all is as it seems to be. The inter-twining of the stories of Rachel, Anna and Megan leads up to a sobering finish.

In the end I was surprised to discover that I was actually quite awakened from the slumber-inducing first half hour or so and really wanted to see how this was going to end. Emily Blunt's portrayal of Rachel was strong. The supporting cast was all right - I didn't think there were any outstanding performances aside from Blunt's, but it was Blunt's movie, and she pulled it off. It has to overcome that slow and bewildering first half hour, and it won't appeal to those who want a straightforward plot or who are put off by a movie with overtly dark tones. But by the time this was over I could honestly say that I was glad I watched it. (6/10)

This is an excellent mystery/thriller that had me 'grasping at straws' for a solid hour or so, trying to figure out who was 'good' and who was 'bad.' And...it's punctuated with a "killer ending!" (Yes, pun intended ~)

Plot in a nutshell: An alcoholic loner subject to blackouts (Emily Blunt) immerses herself in a missing-persons case in which she becomes a prime suspect.

(First let me state I have not read the novel on which this film is based. So my review and impressions are formed solely from watching the movie, where they should be. It seems most of the negative reviews here are from people who read the novel, then apparently watched this film with a notepad in hand, already knowing the story and the outcome but eagerly marking down every area that doesn't match the book, and then coming here to write negative reviews to vent about it. No offense to them (or you, if you are one of them), but the point here is to review the FILM - not to compare and contrast the film to the novel (or to anything else, for that matter). If you want to write a review of the book, go to Goodreads.com and write it there! This site is for the film, and it's what I want to know about. All of these reviews on here telling me about the book, and then giving a poor rating because the film isn't exactly like the book, are irrelevant and out of place. Let's talk about the FILM....)

And yes, it's a very good one. Emily Blunt does such a masterful job of playing an alcoholic social outcast, I agree with some others on here wondering why she wasn't even nominated for an Academy Award. It's that good. She plays one of three women around whom the story largely revolves (Rebecca Ferguson and Haley Bennett are the others). These three are all loosely connected in various ways that are not obvious at first but, through flashbacks and story shifts, we are gradually shown how they tie together. One of the three goes missing and the plot then shifts to solving that mystery.

Saying much more than this will ruin the story so I'll draw the line there. But I will say I found this to be highly entertaining and was constantly shifting my opinion as to who was the guilty one. At one point I guessed right (as it turned out) but I changed my opinion based on what was happening, only to find out I had been right 20 minutes ago! But that's the beauty of this film - just when you think you've got it figured out, you are given a new shred of information that makes you question everything you'd accepted before. That's good story-telling and worthy of acclaim. It's not a stretch to say "The Girl on the Train" comes from the same mold as the Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock classics. If you like those, you'll probably like this too.

8/10. Effective and intriguing mystery that deserves a much higher rating than it's current 6.5 here. Would I watch again (Y/N)?: Yes.

I watched this straight after the book and I think reading the book first was a big mistake (the book was brilliant!). They cut out so many parts of the book which made their personality traits believable and to understand why they were the way they were and actually feel empathy for the characters. I think the film wouldn't have been such a disappointment for me if the book wasn't such a page turner, so if you've already read the book - don't bother with this film.

Well, I enjoyed this movie to the point I would watch it again to catch some of the nuances you miss during first viewing. The story is a bit complicated with several couples in overlapping relationships, but that makes it interesting. The actors are all good with real responses to the surprise events. Unveiling the main character's, Rachel, story in drunken snippets adds to the tension. Some other reviewers complain about plot points that don't make sense but, in some cases, it's because the reviewer did not understand the plot and the inter-relationships of the characters. Special credit to Emily Blunt and Haley Bennet for portraying the angst in their personal situations.

Girl on the Train revolves around a girl, Emily Blount, and a train she takes back and forth to NYC each day. This girl has a problem - she's an alcoholic. She also has an obsession with her past life, her ex, who went on to re-build his life after his relationship with Blount failed.

The movies focuses on 4 people: ex-husband, his new wife Amy, his ex wife Rachel (blount), and neighbor Megan. Various other characters work their way into key parts of the story too. Rachel is never sure of what is real vs what is not because her drinking led her to various blackouts. Flashbacks give you glimpses, but again, what's real vs not?

The Director did a masterful job of building as much intrigue and second guessing as possible. But if you are paying attention, you start having a pretty good idea of what is going on after a certain point. Then it's just a race to the inevitable conclusion.

The movie is not confusing as I've read in some comments. You are being given different theories about what is going on, and it's up to you to dig thru it all, which makes this a decent psycho thriller. Throw in a psychologist to mix things up and you start wondering even more.

The movie succeeds because Blount is absolutely outstanding as Rachel. What a terrific acting performance by her - You feel all her emotions and wonder throughout what really happened, till things clear up a bit.

There is some nice cinematography of the Hudson river. I loved the way the Director used the train to create snapshots of lives. It really mimics our own lives as we see bits and pieces of others, and wonder what they are doing.

Very satisfying movie. Buy a ticket for the Girl on the Train, and enjoy.