TransSiberian (2008)

TransSiberian (2008) Another Brad Anderson film! This director made the fairly decent Stonehearst Asylum (2014) and The Silent Hour (2024), as well as the excellent The Call (2013).

The cast looked interesting, especially with Woody Harrelson, Ben Kingsley and Kate Mara, but also with Eduardo Noriega and Thomas Kretschmann. Not Emily Mortimer, though, and I’ll come back to her later.

I thought this film would be complicated to understand, with lots of details and politics, but not at all, in fact! The story is very simple. But that doesn’t stop it from being a thriller to be recommended. It’s not an action film, if ever!

At the beginning, when the various characters are introduced, the film unfolds at a leisurely pace. As time goes by, more and more strange behaviour and events appear, hinting at trouble to come. Conclusion: a multinational team and a story shot in the snowy cold of the Baltic States remind us once again of the cold season (even in summer). A captivating portrayal of what can happen to travellers in a foreign country whose language they don’t understand, when they meet the wrong people at the wrong time. A few errors of detail in the staging and some stereotypical behaviour and dialogue detract a little from the enormous potential of this story. The convincing actors compensate a little. Nevertheless, I wasn’t totally carried away. But it’s worth a look. Apparently, from what I’ve read, it’s a bit reminiscent of the film ‘Mexico City’, which I haven’t seen yet.

Quite a journey!
The film creates a certain tension right from the start. The actors know their job. Despite this, the last 20 minutes are a bit far-fetched…

Exciting for a rainy Saturday / Sunday afternoon, the film is certainly good… but not incredible. I saw that someone compared it to Hitchcock. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration. The story is certainly captivating, with a confrontation, a surprising showdown and some pretty impressive images of an inhospitable country.

I think I should finally watch that express to hell that is Runaway Train (1985) with the trio Eric Roberts, Jon Voight, Rebecca Demornay.

I’ll add a few more important things about this Trans-Siberian: The basic plot seemed very promising, but a lot of the details remain fragmentary. The plot with Ben Kingsley is, in my opinion, absent from the game for too long. But what’s really unbearable is Emily Mortimer’s performance. Her character of Jessie becomes more and more annoyingly maudlin and stupid as the film progresses. Mortimer’s acting seems overdone, overplayed and flat, with no development. Woody Harrelson can come across as equally clumsy, but I love seeing this actor in all his different guises and it was a treat to see him in a rather naive and deeply kind role. Ben Kingsley can’t save the day either, he plays a rather secondary role here.Always a pleasure to see this actor, too, even if he’s used to bad roles.

And that’s it!
Having said all that, my conclusion is that it’s a good film. Brad Anderson always manages to remain average: he rarely creates masterpieces, but his films are never completely bad until further notice.