The Girl on the Train Review

By Ryan Keating-Lambert

7.5/10

I read somewhere that this is a bad version of Gone Girl. I don’t think that’s entirely accurate. Based on the popular Paula Hawkins book, and directed by Tate Taylor (The Help). The Girl on the Train is a decent psychological thriller with a few twists and turns; some of them predictable, and some of them not. The tension works well, but Emily Blunt. EMILY BLUNT. She is a force to be reckoned with.

Blunt gives an Oscar worthy performance here. She plays alcoholic ex-wife Rachel, a desperate woman with bucket loads of issues who loves to ride trains. She’s obsessed with stalking her old neighbours, and her ex-husband (Justin Theroux).

The fact that Rachel spends so much time spying on her old life from the train put a Rear Window spin on the narrative, as did the fact that she was narrating quite a bit – seemed like a throwback to these old Hitchcock thrillers and I loved that.

Speaking of comparisons, I don’t want to compare this movie to Gone Girl, but there are a couple of similarities. The music occasionally tried to be a Trent Reznor score, but didn’t flesh out the scene like it would in a David Fincher movie. The seductive neighbour Megan (Haley Bennett) even bears a slight resemblance to Rosamund Pike, but this film is still its own project and deserves a go at the cinema.

The cinematography is extremely invasive; from the get-go we are forced into everyone’s personal space whether we like it or not. Every close-up, and there are a lot, cleverly toys with focal points to give an alcoholic perspective on the world. A wonderful effect that was subtle but highly effective, especially whenever Blunt was electrifying the screen.

The plot, although slow in moments, does keep a steady pace so you shouldn’t find any boredom here. I did think though that there was a bit of unnecessary cheese. I’m not used to having cheese with my thrillers, but I should have seen it coming considering they used that stupid Kanye West song ‘Heartless’ in the trailer.

Go see this in the cinema, it’s a good experience and deserves more praise than what it’s getting. BUT, I haven’t read the book so I had zero expectations. If you have already read the book, then unread it and you’ll dig it a bit more.

Feature photo: IMG