This train might be derailed, but there’s still some coal to keep it moving
Transsiberian is an odd film. What has been promised through promotionals and through descriptions of the film itself is nothing short of an intense drama where a mysterious couple shows up in the life of a very broken couple. Drugs, murder and other vicious things were suppose to propel this movie onto another level. While it certainly does have all of those elements, it’s missing a couple of key elements… intensity and continuity.
The story seems a bit slow at times, really relying more on visuals and implying looks and moments to serve as a vessel for a par film. I’m sure that on some levels the movie teaches the viewer a lot about themselves. It asks what happiness is through the characters Roy (Woody Harrelson) and Jessie (Emily Mortimer), even going as far as to introduce their characters through a mutual organization where they get to make less than well-to-do children happy. It presents so many opportunities for establishing this couple’s relationship. The problem isn’t Jessie, it’s Roy. No doubt that Harrelson didn’t ruin the moment, rather poor character establishment never helped turn the corner with Roy, who should have been on the struggling end of his broken relationship with Jessie. Most of the film shows Roy as a clueless boob trying to make her happy, but never really questioning why she isn’t. It’s not typical for a relationship to work that way and still work. Anyway, with that sort of dysfunction being mixed in with the opposing couple, Carlos (Eduardo Noriega) and Abby (Kate Mara), it just seems very forced. Carlos and Abby have their own agenda and what should build up to one couple using the weakness of another, seems ultimately like an odd fit by the end. Don’t get me wrong, there are moments of tension between the couples and eventually there is deception with Carlos and Jessie, but nothing really comes to a strong fruition. As for Ben Kingsley’s character, Grinko, he is just a device to bridge the wrong doing of Carlos. Menacing, but ultimately useless.
Now, there are some redeeming qualities to this movie, don’t get me wrong I don’t want to be a Debbie downer here, such as the beauty of the cinematography and the sexual tension that Jessie desires (which is very powerful and stands out like a sore thumb). If the movie had focused on these things and not tried to make it a character driven film, the story might have been more intense and less broken. That’s the perfect word for it though: broken. Do you want to be a movie about drug trafficking or do you want to be a movie about relationships? You can have both, but you’ll have to put them together in a smoother way than this. For example, if you left a loved one behind by accident at a train station, and blew it off through trying to be sexually aggressive with your pseudo enemy, who only wants you to traffic drugs for them, how would you honestly react? How Jessie gets to the point of putting herself in that situation isn’t clearly explained and how she feels towards Roy isn’t really set-up strongly. In the end, because of the broken story and the elements of trying to make characters work with a broken story, it all just doesn’t make logical sense. Again, very beautiful film that loses direction as soon as Carlos and Abby are introduced. Starts well, ends badly.
More insight to the train ride
As for the features, you get a nice making of featurette, but it just doesn’t make up for the lack of a great film. The making of featurette is a wonderful insight to what they were truly shooting for, but the movie should hold up on its own. It’s average at best. Thankfully, the visuals are enhanced by the 1080p capabilities and the wonderful 5.1 audio helps, but again it really doesn’t do much for the film itself other than make it look and sound good.