Derailed

Derailed is directed by Mikael Håfström and adapted to screenplay by Stuart Beattie from James Siegel's novel. It stars Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, Vincent Cassell, Melissa George and RZA. Music is scored by Ed Shearmur and cinematography by Peter Biziou.

Charles (Owen) and Lucinda (Aniston) meet on a commuter train and in spite of the fact they are married, start flirting. Ending up in a hotel one night, they're beaten and robbed by LaRoche (Cassell) who promptly starts blackmailing Charles......

There's a decent thriller in the mix here, if only it had had a director able to hide the surprises and a writer capable of not making his male protagonist such an unlikable git! It's a shame because the premise is a good one, and there are good performances from an agreeable cast. Film essentially asks us to root for Charles as he battles with a reoccurring villain of some nastiness (Cassell genuinely unnerving), yet not only is he a love cheat (a lovely wife at home and a very sick daughter), he also makes ridiculous errors of judgement. While the holes in logic for some sequences are bafflingly poor. Still, it does have thrills and it doesn't soft soap the violence. Taken on popcorn thriller terms, it's above average and worth a watch, but it's not half as clever as it thinks it is. 6/10

I was avoiding the film because of the lower ratings it had received but after several recommendations, I went and saw it and was surprisingly pleased with the whole film from start to finish. In my opinion, this could be very well one of the best thrillers of the year. The trailer for it really doesn't do it justice for what the movie really is; a dark, suspenseful, edge of your seat thriller. Jennifer Aniston does a great job breaking out of her Friends character that everyone associates her with and that so few sitcom actors have been able to do. Don't wait for this one to come out on DVD. You definitely want to catch this one in the theater.

Derailed is a tight, smart, and dangerous movie about risks. Based on the novel by the same name, it's hard to believe the book could be much better.

Jennifer Aniston gives a great performance, as does Clive Owen. The directing is spot on and the music is simple yet effective. One knock may be the film's cinematography; it looks like you've seen it or a movie like it before. Nothing special about the visual style.

Beware though, this movie is serious in all aspects. It can be violent, foul-mouthed,and at times really thrilling. Those are things thrillers usually aren't.

Luckily, Derailed never goes off the tracks and in the end makes it all the way to the credits. See it, rent it, or buy it. You'll believe that Hitchcock still lives.

PRE Oscars REVIEW: I just saw a pre-screening of the film "Derailed" starring the great Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston. What that means is that it wasn't a final version but very close to it. Well I must say I was eager to place Owen into contention for an Oscar nomination after last year popular "Closer." I'm sorry to say that he is out and it's due to the poor, predictable script.

The story was very underdeveloped and a bit unrealistic but the performances of Owen, Aniston, and Vincent Cassel kept the film moving. This movie was Unfaithful meets Matchstick Men meets Reindeer Games. I would recommend the film for a good popcorn flick but in terms of Oscar I would take it out of the game. Owen captures the nature of his character but flops in terms of staying in the location meaning his American accent. Although he is truly the hero of the story and you love the character. He got a couple of "claps" during the film. Aniston gives a very different performance than what we're used to but it works. She's very talented and I would love to see her nominated in the next coming years.

The standout of the cast is Vincent Cassel who's villainous, dark performance will go down in the books as one of the greatest villainous performances in the past years. He truly makes you hate him and you leave with a feeling in your stomach from him on screen. The worst part of the entire film was the terrible musical score which is very distracting and annoying but hopefully with better editing they'll get rid of it and hire someone new. So-so script and good performances make a pretty decent flick.

I'm surprised to see some low ratings for this movie because I found it to be really good. I didn't find a boring moment thru out the whole movie and the ending was so twisted... it just brought everything together. I wasn't sure of what the movie was about so I was definitely caught off guard with the whole plot. It sort of starts out like a love story, then next thing you know the guns come flying. Its different from any other movie I've seen with realistic outcomes and life situations. At times I wasn't sure if I was on the good guy's or bad guy's side because in a way, the main character deserved some of what he got. And I also understood why the bad guys chose their targets without remorse. If I wasn't given a background of the main character, I don't think i would've felt bad for him. Anyway, its a good movie and I'd definitely recommend checking it out.