hyped garbage

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

I recently saw 'Session 9' and was so impressed with it I decided to check out some of writer/director Brad Anderson's other work, starting with 'Transsiberian'. The synopsis sounded interesting enough and it had an impressive cast, so i thought it would be a good place to start. Sadly, it wasn't up to the same standard as 'Session 9'. It wasn't a horror movie obviously, so some change was to be expected, but the problem was it lacked all the same brilliance in the mystery department that that film managed to achieve. There was enough going on here, yet it all felt very bland and run-of-the-mill. It felt like something we have seen 100 times before, whereas 'Session 9' felt completely unique, fresh and exhilarating.The characters were very bland (intentionally, I suspect) which made things realistic, but boring at the same time. So then it falls on the story to carry the load. Unfortunately, the story was very predictable and bland itself at times. I kept hoping all wasn't as it seemed, and that we were going to be hit with a twist out of left field that we never saw coming. It was not to be though and everything that I suspected was coming, eventually came - it just took a while to get there.It wasn't all bad though. The acting, as you'd anticipate with such a strong cast, was excellent from all concerned. It's also a beautifully shot film. A lot of the scenery is quite beautiful and never lets you forget the harsh environment this film is set in. Anderson seems to have a real talent for having great cinematography and settings in his films. At the end of the day though these factors aren't enough to keep this from being anything more than just you average and rather forgettable thriller.

The first act, the two couples (Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer, and Kate Mara and Eduardo Noriega) meeting aboard the Transsiberian Railway, travelling from China to Moscow, and socialising with each other, and with other passengers, is well done. Harrelson and especially Mortimer become suspicious of their new travelling companions.A beautiful, crumbling cathedral, secluded in the snow covered wilderness is the site of a particularly brutal moment, a turning point in the plot. The focus of the plot shifts to back to Emily Mortimer, and her actions, and fear of any consequences it may bring. It begins the second act, which is the best part of this film, as it shows the growing tension and fear of her horrific actions being found out. Ben Kingsley (exceptional, as always) turns up, as a cop with suspicions of his own, and possibly his own ulterior motives. This entire second act is nearly unwatchably tense. Sadly though, the plot derails (pun completely intended) in the final act, with a couple of confusing, highly unlikely twists involving the Russian mob and drug smuggling cluttering up the mix.It never regains the focus it had, and offers an inconclusive ending. I wish the plot would have stayed focused on her fear and paranoia of her crime being found out by Kingsley, even though it was justified.Still highly recommended, for top notch acting, and cinematography, capturing both the bleakness and desolation and isolation of Lithuania (standing in for Russia) and the tight, crowded confines of the train itself.

"Transsiberian" can be described as a train thriller for the twenty- first century. Train thrillers were once quite popular; several of Alfred Hitchcock's films, for example, include significant scenes set on a train, including "The Lady Vanishes", "Shadow of a Doubt", "Strangers on a Train" and "North by North-West". The sub-genre, however, declined in the latter part of the twentieth century as aircraft began to replace trains as the preferred medium for long-distance travel in America and most other parts of the world. The film is officially described as a Spanish-German-British-Lithuanian co-production, and is probably the only example of a Spanish-German- British-Lithuanian co-production I have ever seen. Indeed, it is probably the only example of a Spanish-German-British-Lithuanian co- production anyone has ever seen. In the modern age, however, even multi- national European co-productions need to work for the Yankee dollar, so "Transsiberian" was directed by an American, Brad Anderson, and revolves around the adventures of an American couple abroad. The couple in question, Roy and Jessie, have been working in China as part of a Christian mission, and because Roy is something of a train buff decide to return home via Moscow on the Trans-Siberian Railway. (That would be the normal spelling in English, even if the makers of this film prefer the bizarre "Transsiberian"). On the journey they befriend another American woman, Abby, and her Spanish boyfriend Carlos. About the first half-hour of the film is taken up with little more than small-talk between the two couples and we wonder when the thrills are going to start. And then, of course, they do. Roy mysteriously goes missing from the train and it looks as if we are in for an unacknowledged remake of "The Lady Vanishes", but a few minutes later we learn there is a rational, and perfectly banal, explanation for his disappearance; he missed the train in while sightseeing in Irkutsk, will catch the next train, and all Jessie needs to do is to wait at the next stop until they are reunited. And so the film sets off on its own roller-coaster journey in the course of which it repeatedly turns from one type of thriller into another. From a "missing person" thriller it becomes a "girl in peril from a charming but sinister stranger" thriller, and then a "woman wrongly suspected of murder" thriller, and then a "some-other-type-of-thriller", and then a .......well, you get the general idea. This sudden, continuous switching from one storyline to another means that the film never has a chance to arouse much interest; as soon as we have got interested in one scenario, it place is quickly usurped by another. The other thing I disliked about the film was the way it, despite being a Spanish-German-British-Lithuanian co-production, pandered to American paranoia about Abroad, especially about Russia and Eastern Europe, a paranoia which has been all to obvious in a number of recent Hollywood movies. Roy and Jessie are the quintessential innocents abroad, good Godfearing American folks who blunder into a nightmare when they travel to foreign parts with the best of motives. The Cold War may be over, but Russia is still a dangerous, hostile place for innocent Americans, a land of gangsterism and corrupt officialdom which may just be two sides of the same counterfeit coin. Even Western Europeans are not necessarily to be trusted; Roy and Jessie discover to their cost that their Spanish fellow traveller Carlos may be as big a threat to them as any Russian. .Probably the best acting performances come from Ben Kingsley as a Russian detective and Eduardo Noriega as the handsome and charismatic but sinister Carlos. Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer are both a bit anonymous, but I wondered if this was a deliberate attempt to emphasis Roy and Jessie's "Mr and Mrs Average" credentials. The characterisation of Roy may owe something to the common British preconception that trainspotters are all anorak-clad nerds who desperately need to get a life. There is some attractive, atmospheric photography of the snowbound Russian landscapes, but overall "Transsiberian" is a film which does not really hang together and relies too heavily on xenophobic fears. If it was an attempt to emulate Hitchcock's train thrillers, it falls a long way short of the Master's work. 4/10

It is good to see that Hitchcock is alive and well. Brad Anderson (Session 9) gives us a good thriller that keeps us guessing throughout.You never know who the good guys and the bad guys are. It really doesn't matter as the characters are so good that you are drawn to their performances.Emily Mortimer (Paris, je t'aime, The Sleeping Dictionary) is excellent as a tempted wife who finds that demons still exist within her. When she realizes that she has been set up, the tension became amazing as we watch her efforts to escape.The tempter is an equally good Eduardo Noriega (Vantage point & the elusive Alatriste). He has met his match with Mortimer, but not before he really complicates her life.There is some really gruesome torture involving Kate Mara (Brokeback Mountain, We Are Marshall).And, there is Ben Kingsley, a detective that goes after drug dealers. His performance is amazing. (Kingsley will be in Queen of the South next year, but I don't get my hopes up as that film is written by the same person who wrote Alatriste, which is not to be found.) Kingsley is his usual amazing self and his character is worth the price of admission all by itself.