The Girl on the Train (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
The Girl on the Train is originally a book written by the British author Paula Hawkins. Her book had immense success in 2015 when it first came out, and sold millions of copies. A film adaptation seemed the next logical step ahead, and in 2016, the film we’re about to review was released. Be it close to the original storyline or not, we could well appreciate the film from start to finish.
Every day Rachel (Emily Blunt) takes the train to work, a ride that takes her past a few beautiful houses, where people seem to live perfect lives. Not coincidently, one of the houses is that of Tom Watson (Justin Theroux), Rachel’s ex-husband, his new wife Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) and their little daughter Evie. A little further down the road live Scott (Luke Evans) and Megan Hipwell (Haley Bennett) who, from what Rachel imagines when seeing them through the train window, must be having the perfect relationship.
One day, as Rachel is looking outside her train window once again, she sees Megan on her balcony, kissing another man. Even though Rachel doesn’t know anything about Megan or this other man, she gets really upset and even mad, as the perfect life that she imagined Megan and Scott to have, is suddenly shattered to pieces. She decides to get off the train to confront Megan, but blacks out, only to wake up hours later back at her apartment, with bloody clothes and a gaping headwound. The further the film progresses, the clearer it gets that Megan isn’t doing so well mentally, partly because of the alcohol addiction she has, which also caused her to black out, but also because of the relationship she once had with Tom, and the way it ended. She’s still not over it and keeps harassing him and Anna with phone calls and texts. When she gets a visit from the police, as Megan is missing and she was seen near her house, Rachel realizes that she might have done something bad to Megan, but no matter how hard she tries, she can’t remember anything of what happened that day.
The story seems to have two paces in this film. On the one hand there is Rachel, who keeps taking that same train ride every day, while drinking alcohol until she can’t even remember what she did. Her almost constant drunk state, and the repetitiveness of the train ride make the story seem to not move at all, while at the same time, so many things are happening around her. Tom and Anna, Scott and Megan all live their seemingly perfect lives, at least in Rachel’s eyes, but the further the film progresses, the more you start to realize that the truth might be very, very different. Rachel is deceived, but director Tate Taylor managed to deceive us as well, as a viewer, which makes for a very interesting plot.
Emily Blunt took on a character that was, no doubt, very hard to portray. Nonetheless, her acting feels very genuine and real, which shows that she can take on pretty much any role, if she wanted to. Also the rest of the cast was very well chosen, as they act well together, and make the story feel very real and catching.
For extras, there are some extended and deleted scenes to watch, as well as a commentary with director Tate Taylor. Next to that, there are also a few features in which the cast and crew talk about the characters, the story and so on, thus all together forming a making of. The extras are quite the obvious ones, yet they do add a good deal to the mix, as the story, as well as the directing are definitely things that made us interested to see more.
Conclusion
The Girl on the Train tells a story that is both fast and slow, both exciting and dark. The way the story and the characters twist and turn along the way makes it very interesting to watch from start to finish, and the balance between fast and slow makes sure it doesn’t feel rushed. The acting is on point, and the special features make for an interesting addition. You won’t feel happy after watching this film, but nonetheless, it’s definitely worth it.
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