'The Girl On The Train' caught my eye recently with the trailer, and made me want to go see it. I haven't read the book so I didn't really know what to expect, and this review can only be based on the movie alone.
'The Girl On The Train' is a thriller about a hard-drinking woman, Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt), who takes the same train every day in New York, and this train passes by her old house, where she once lived with her husband, who now lives there with his new wife and their child. Rachel becomes obsessed with another couple who live a few houses down, and creates her own imaginary world for them, until one day she discovers something shocking, which fills Rachel with rage. The next day she wakes up, hungover, with no recollection to what happened the night before, but shortly finds out that the wife in her dream couple has gone missing, and Rachel knows that she must find out what has happened to her, and what actually happened to herself on that night.
The film's story is a gripping one, and at times had me on the edge of my seat, no doubt thanks to Emily Blunt's fantastic performance as the leading character, but I must say there were moments where I did find the movie a little dull. I found some of the other actors performances not as convincing as Blunts, which made some scenes lose the drama of the storyline.
I don't think the screenplay was great, I felt like the film was a bit choppy, and could be hard to follow what was actually happening within the story. There are many twists and turns along the way, and none of which are really given enough time for you to connect with the relevant characters. I usually am a fan of a gripping thriller with story twists which leave you thinking, but I must admit this one did come across a little sloppy, I do think that this has to be the directors & screenwriters fault, along with the uninterested cast.
The film is not all bad though, as I mentioned before Emily Blunt puts in a stellar performance here, and completely steals every single scene. She portrays the character of Rachel brilliantly, she makes you feel every emotion, and relate to her, something that unfortunately her fellow actors could not do. I am a big fan of Emily, and I do feel like this is one of her best performances, it's just a shame that her cast-mates could not give the film the same dedication.
I do think that the story itself is interesting, and this could've been a huge breakout film of 2016, but due to poor execution of this Paula Hawkins novel it will not be, and I am not interested I am however now intrigued to read the book.
I rate this film a 4 out of 10. Overall, I am disappointed with this film, as I thought that the trailer was great. The direction and screenplay did not do the novel justice, but Emily Blunt's performance did, she is the reason that this film does not get a worse rating from me.
