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The Girl Just Missed the Train


          The Girl on the Train is another mystery thriller novel-turned-movie following on the heels of 2014’s Gone Girl. It’s not as good as that movie, but is this adaptation of the best-selling novel by Paula Hawkins compelling enough?
          Rachel (Emily Blunt) is a depressed, jobless alcoholic who often blacks out, leaving blank spaces in her memory where she’s unsure of her actions. It’s this that led to her divorce from her husband Tom Watson (Justin Theroux) who’s now married to Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) and they have a young child. Every day, Rachel commutes to New York by train, passing by her old neighbourhood where she watches neighbours of Tom and Anna’s, Megan (Haley Bennett) and Scott Hipwell (Luke Evans), who she imagines must have the perfect relationship. But those presumptions aren’t quite what they seem. When Megan, who coincidentally works for the Watsons, goes missing on the same night Rachel wanders into that neighbourhood and blacks out, she wonders if she might have something to do with the disappearance.
          The plot is presented through three points of view: Rachel’s, Anna’s, and through flashback, Megan’s. And this structure though useful and necessary to relate important plot points, doesn’t work as well in film as it would in a book. We have to keep in mind if something important is dropped in a Megan flashback, Rachel in the present doesn’t know about it. The story doesn’t flow steadily when we’re being taken out of the linear progression at various intervals, especially when in those detours we’re privy to information that puts us ahead of the protagonist. This gives the film a feeling of sluggishness as we have to wait for Rachel to catch up. That doesn’t necessarily mean it should have been construed differently, considering some reveals in the flashbacks or in Anna’s storyline can’t be brought up earlier than they are. It just comes off as unfocused. The black-outs though are a believable way to keep Rachel in the dark and allow the audience to question her reliability. It’s one of those great scenarios where you don’t know who to trust and anyone can be a suspect. Like any good mystery. But unlike any good mystery, the writing isn’t very strong, especially some of the voice-over narration. There are a number of moments you can tell are lifted straight from the book. Rachel’s and even Megan’s reflections or descriptions can be wordy and needlessly opaque which drag down the visual experience.
          Emily Blunt though is good in this role, portraying the pathetic nature and mental instability of her character with great dedication. One of the films’ stronger assets is its depiction of alcoholism, the repercussions of black-outs, and the damage it does to one’s life. Rachel is the saddest character I’ve seen in a film in a while and in spite of everything, you root for her to kick the addiction. Moments where she accepts a beer only a few scenes after being seen at an AA meeting, or when she fills a water bottle with vodka are thus really dispiriting. You buy her confusion when the cops question her about the incident but then also her interest in getting involved in the case due to her probably unhealthy attitude towards the Hipwells. Megan is also an interesting character as you find out more about her past and Bennett plays it well. The rest of the cast is fine too, but Anna, Tom, Scott, and Dr. Abdic (Edgar Ramirez) are more-or-less typical suspect characters in a story like this. 
          This isn’t the most creative kind of mystery: you know most of the characters have secrets, someone’s having an affair, and so on. The final reveal is foreseeable if not entirely obvious. However if you’ve seen or read enough of these mysteries you’ll be able to guess the right person. This is also a movie that goes into a few dark places with a couple of the reveals. That being said, there are are a number of reveals and details in the end that don’t add up, and the resolution didn’t go in the direction it should have. In actuality, it overcompensates.
          If you’re looking for the next Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train definitely isn’t it. The pay-off isn’t very satisfactory if you know these kind of thrillers and the structure’s fairly incoherent. If you just want a mystery that’ll keep you intrigued for a couple hours with some decent performances, you may like it fine. But if you want a thriller that’s more investing, there are plenty of better movies or books to choose from.
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