by Connie Kim
“The Girl on the Train” was one of the movies that I wanted to see when I first heard about it. I’ve always been into Emily Blunt, who plays the main character in the film, ever since her performance in one of my all time favorite girlish movies, “The Devil Wears Prada.” When I saw that she was going to be in a new film and the exciting trailer, I was sold.
The story starts with commuter Rachel Watson, played by Blunt, who is seen looking out the window from her train seat. She observes this couple, Scott and Megan, every day during her ride to and from work, as they take in each other’s passion in their home. Megan is viewed as this perfect woman who has everything that Rachel has ever wanted, especially considering that her recent divorce and personal problems turned her into a borderline alcoholic.
One day, Rachel sees Megan jogging before she later disappears under a bridge. As the story carries along, Rachel finds out that herself, her ex-husband, the missing Megan and Megan’s husband are all connected, eventually leading Rachel to be one of the suspects in the disappearance.
This movie is an American adaptation of a worldwide best-selling murder mystery novel. The book brilliantly captures suspense, romance, murder and sex all into one storyline. The book was originally published in January 2015 and a little after a year later the major motion picture was produced and released, on Oct. 7.
There are several mixed feelings about whether or not the film was a thumbs up or a thumbs down for movie goers. I’ve heard both good and bad things from it, but from different types of audiences. Readers and fans of the original book seem extremely disappointed with nothing, but negative tweets and other forms of social media outrage from them being expressed.
However, non-readers and everyday movie watchers seem to be pretty pleased. I am a huge fan of suspense and mystery movies; I’m aware that they are all kind of hit or miss. However, with this one, I’m feeling kind of in the middle.
I haven’t read the book, which I’m honestly of glad about after hearing all the “boos” from readers, so I’m judging it based off the film itself. Blunt was absolutely brilliant (I may just be biased with that) and the plot awesome.
However, I’m not a total fan of how they carried out the storyline and how the movie played out. I feel like there was a vibe that was similar to the movie “Gone Girl.” It almost seemed like this movie tried too hard to be something of that genre.
There were parts that seemed kind of jumbled as well, and didn’t make too much sense. A couple of times during the film, I had to stop and ask myself, “Wait, what?” – and I don’t mean in a good way.
So bottom line, should you pay $15 to see the movie in theaters? Unless you’re a weird Emily Blunt fan like I am, I would save your money for something else. This movie felt like something you would come across on “Lifetime” as you scroll through the channels. I feel like it will be on Netflix within a year or so. If you absolutely can’t wait until then though, go ahead; if not, save your cash for another movie date.
Rating: two and a half out of five stars.
