MOVIE REVIEW: The Girl on the Train

Hello All,

I went to the movies this weekend (now its a few weekends ago...completely forgot to edit this) and I want to tell you all about it because I went to see The Girl on the Train. Below is the trailer for those of you who haven't seen it.

This movie is based on the novel, The Girl on the Train, written by Paula Hawkins. I haven't read the book although now I'm thinking about downloading the audio book and listening to it in the morning when I'm getting ready, but I'll explain more on that later. Anyways the minute I saw the trailer for this movie I knew I had to see it because it had a very Gone Girl vibe, which is you remember about 2 years ago I went and saw that movie and loved it. (Review here). 

Rachel (Blunt)
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This movie starts out by introducing you to the three main women in the movie, Rachel (Emily Blunt), Megan (Haley Bennet) and Anna (Rebecca Ferguson). Right off the back we learn that Rachel is dealing with some alcohol abuse problems. Everyday she rides the train into Manhatten and passes by the street she once lived on wit her ex-husband, Tom (Justin Theroux). From the train she can see into her and Tom's old house which Tom still lives in with his new wife, Anna. And their neighbors home owned by Megan and her husband, Scott (Luke Evans). Rachel becomes obsessed with their lives and even more so when she sees Megan kiss a man who is not her husband. On that night she drunkly goes to confront Megan because she knows what its like to have a spouse cheat on her. The next day Megan goes missing and Rachel has to piece together what happened that night in order to clear her own name. 

Rachel (Blunt)
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I loved this movie, it kept me guessing the whole time. I think that at different points throughout the movie I thought each of the characters were the primary criminal of the story because they all had such great motives. In a way I felt like the actual kidnapper and their motives were a little cliche but I think the way the story unraveled made up for it. Like I mentioned before I really want to read the book because there is one part of the reveal that left me with a few questions that I'm hoping maybe the book could answer.

Anna (Ferguson)
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As for performance I feel like the whole cast was phenomenal. But the one who stood out the most to me was Emily Blunt. She portrayed this character so well. At different times through out the movie I pitted her, hated her, felt protective over her and sympathized with her. I felt all those emotions in the course of two hours and it was all because of Blunt's performance. 

Detective Riley (Allison Janney)
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One thing I noticed, although I'm not sure if it was done on purpose was that all of the male characters looked a lot at alike. For the story it made sense because it made it that while Rachel was drunk she'd have a hard time telling them apart. But as an audience member it was confusing at times but also helped me relate better to Rachel's state of mind. So now that I've written a whole paragraph I've decided that I do love that they all looked a like. 

Tom (Theroux)
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I rarely write about editing when I write these posts mainly because I don't feel like I know enough about it to write about it in an educated manner. I will say however that in this movie the editing was done perfectly. It flashed around and there were a lot of jump cuts that came very quickly, adding to the confusion and chaos going on in Rachel's head. Something that as a movie nerd I loved to see. I actually have a class this semester where were looking at movies and if this movie was out on DVD I'd probably used it so I could talk about those aspects. 

LtoR: Tom (Theroux) & Rachel (Blunt)
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So, in case you're still wondering I would recommend this movie to almost everyone. The people who I would say shouldn't watch this movie is people who get squeamish easily. There are a few scenes where there is a good about of blood. But for everyone else, please go see it and see the awesome movies for yourself. 

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Have you seen Girl on the Train? If you have what are your opinions? Let me know in the comments below.