Arts & Life, Film & Television

‘Girl on the Train’ should have never left the station.

All aboard another thrilling tale of untrustworthy perspectives from various rich white people.

Serving as an adaptation of the best-selling book by Paula Hawkins, “The Girl on the Train” sets out to captivate audiences and fans of the book through revelations and intrigue. The only problem is that it fails on the latter part.

Director Tate Taylor, who is known for “The Help” and James Brown biopic “Get on Up,” gets out of his comfort zone of creating historical dramas by developing a mystery thriller that proves he should have stayed.

Emily Blunt feverishly stumbles around as alcoholic and divorcee Rachel Watson, who regularly takes the Metro-North commuter train that happens to pass by the home of her ex-husband Tom (Justin Theroux) and his new wife Anna (Rebecca Ferguson).

Rachel’s gaze shifts toward another nearby home of married couple Megan (Haley Bennett) and Scott (Luke Evans), who spend more of their days kissing and making love with the windows open so the train passengers can quickly play as a peeping Tom.

Love and family become a focal point for Rachel, as she jealously despises her ex’s new hot wife and their baby; and seeing the two other couples Megan and Scott who seemingly managed to get their relationship dynamic right.

During one of Rachel’s drunken stupors, she decides to go to her ex’s house to give him a piece of her mind; however, she wakes up the next day with blood on herself and news of Megan going missing.

What begins is a mystery of self-involvement where Rachel’s past becomes more entrenched in the matters. What ends up is an exaggerated take on cheating, lies and a binge of substances. For what it’s worth, the plot is reminiscent of a standard soap opera, but with more curse words and blood.

Unlike the book, the flashbacks from different perspectives become jarringly interwoven. Depictions of alcoholism become more frequent as Rachel begins to question herself, Scott and Megan’s psychiatrist Dr. Abdic (Édgar Ramirez) – whose finger had been seductively sucked by Megan.

A list of suspects is narrowly cut down to a predictable conclusion once alibis and motivations are set in place.

Drawing comparison to David Fincher’s “Gone Girl,” where various untrustworthy perspectives become a turning point for the immediate tension and suspense, “The Girl on the Train” drags along with multiple red herrings and a distinct lack of suspense. By the end, there are still some plot holes that could have used more filling than lazily setting aside for the non-book readers.

While Emily Blunt portrays herself as a drunken ex-wife who goes on to solve the mystery and Haley Bennett as the cheating wife with a dark past, both of them contain more character and motivational drive than most of the other cardboard-cutout cast in an otherwise lackluster plot that quickly falls in the final act.

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