The Girl on the Train

Long time user of IMDb, but this is my very first review because I felt compelled to write as I read the unbelievably high scores given to this film by people that must have been on the crew or are relatives of the actors or producers. What an atrocious film filled with bad acting, terrible dialogue and poor pace! I was expecting a good film, then I saw the scores drop for this film in real time over a matter of days on Netflix. I should have sent the film back without watching it as the Netflix algorithms know a stinker from a good or even great film. I watched the whole thing because once I start I can't stop. It was almost a physically painful ordeal that I had to endure just to get through the 1 hr and 20 minutes. I will be on my deathbed and probably think about this film and wonder what constructive thing I could have done with that time instead, perhaps watch paint dry or look into a dark closet. Yikes! Please don't waste your time like I did.

source: The Girl on the Train

I have seen lots of thrillers and this one has an intricate plot that pulls the viewer in and delivers a cool story line and lots of suspense. Steven Lang is a great actor and Henry Ian Cusick and Nicki Aycox also give fine performances. The film opens with the hero stuck in a very difficult situation and then draws you in to try and figure out he got there. It's intelligently written with some great twists and turns that don't all sort themselves out until the end - with lots of surprises. Leaves you with some good a-ha's and the feeling that had you been paying close attention, the film makers were telling you all along. Worth seeing a second time to see the brilliance in the set up.

Henry Ian Cusick (as Danny Hart) really amazed me as he acted and delivered his lines very confidently although it was really a highly complex and very intricate script. Same with Nicki Aycox (as Lexi) who also did her lines and acted her role very superbly. The movie has a very well written script - notably of high caliber. The story is not so common as it may seem. And it contains many twists and surprises which will make the viewer really think or use his intellect for the most part of the movie. I really enjoyed watching it up to its ending and has no boring moment due to the fast development of the story line. I give this film "The Girl on the Train (2013)" 8 stars! Try watching it so you'll know what I mean. But remember folks, this is only just my HONEST review.

Henry Ian Cusick plays Danny who is an Englishman making documentaries in the US. One day he sees a girl on a train who has been crying. He is strangely drawn to her and decides to act on his impulses. She is enigmatic and mysterious and he finds himself wanting to see her again. Then they do meet and she uses her feminine ways to get him to act out of character and take him down a path that once he has set foot on it, there is no turning back. Now this is a well written, filmed and acted film. There is a lot of clever observations on life and some real chemistry between the main players. The film works by using flash backs to flesh out what has already transpired and it is done rather well. The problem is that it is all a bit too contrived and unbelievable and the dénouement is just a bit too much to be taken seriously so it loses marks big time.

The only description visible on amazon.com when I looked up this movie said, essentially, that it was NOT based on the Paula Hawkins novel. That may not sound very helpful, but it sure sold me. The plot here was complex, with a lot of twists, turns, surprises, and a few obvious plot devices. But overall the characters were compelling, the issues interesting (such as whether an individual would prefer the reality, or the nice story), and mostly the acting was great. I can only think that people who gave this a low number of stars must have thought they were dealing with a 5-star scale and not a 10-star scale. A lot of Manhattan and upstate Hudson River scenes, and yes, in fact it had a lot to do with trains, both in the moment and in the past. I am adding this bit because apparently I need 10 lines of text. It looks to me like I already have that.

This rather short film is centred on documentary film maker Danny Hart who is being interviewed by the police; perhaps he is a suspect, perhaps he is a victim. In flashback we see how he met a girl on a train while heading to interview an elderly man with his own story about a railway journey. As the girl gets off the train she tells him that her name is Lexa and later he tries to find her again without any success; then she approaches him at New York's Grand Central Station. They start meeting regularly and he gradually learns more about her… or rather he learns what she tells him or more accurately implies. Trying to help her he starts following another man; something that will ultimately put him in a very dangerous place confronted by somebody who tells him that Lexa has been using him from the moment they met. Intertwined with this story we see the interviews Danny had with the elderly man; he tells of his experiences as a young Jewish boy in Nazi Germany as he was transported to the camps; while stopped in a station a young girl pushed a small gold cross through the slats of the wagon; something that gave him hope until the camp was ultimately liberated. I found this film really intriguing; the opening quickly gripped me and I was keen to learn more about Danny's story and the more we found out the more I wanted to know. From the start it was clear that something bad had happened but the details remain unknown till the end. Lexa is a fascinating character; early on she seems like a good person but the more we see of her it less we seem to know about her. The cast to a fine job with Henry Ian Cusick giving Danny an 'everyman' feel while Nicki Aycox is suitably enigmatic as Lexa. The rest of the cast is pretty solid too. As well as an intriguing main story, the story being told by the Jewish man about his childhood experience in the war was enjoyable and had a great twist at the end. Overall I'd say that this certainly won't be for everybody but I'd recommend checking it out; at only an hour and a quarter in length it is hardly a huge waste of time if you don't enjoy it and it is just as likely that you will enjoy it.

That film was one of the worst pieces of self- indulgent rubbish I've ever had the misfortune of watching. Somehow this came under thriller or action and adventure. It was neither of these. It was such a terrible story line, I don't know how others find it interesting or thought provoking! The acting wasn't bad as such but I didn't connect with any of the characters. Do not watch this for anything other than pretence. The trivia section says it was filmed in 17 days, quite how it took that long I'm not sure, but I definitely would ask for my money back if I'd paid to see it in the cinema. Even the 99p rental on iTunes was too much.

I came to this film on Amazon thinking I was going to see the 2016 movie by the same name. I must read the captions more closely. If I had I would have avoided what turned out to be a juvenile essay on the meaning of love and life. When i was 17 or so. after being in love four or five times, and reading too much Sartre in between, I wrote several short stories about love and life filled with overwrought observations that didn't wear well with time. My Dad, a writer, tried to be kind. Save them because they will tell you who you were then and believe me you'll forget, he said. And while they're not very good they do have the virtue of being sincere. Precisely what this film lacks; instead its gratuitous world-weariness is simply cynical. My juvenile efforts may have been sincere but they didn't ring true because I lacked experience.The author of this film seems to suffer the same deficiency - he fantasizes instead of seeing , thinking, and observing. Which is strange; you'd think someone who is experienced enough to make a technically proficient two hour movie would have moved beyond juvenile fantasies about these potent subjects. Alas, not so in the 2013 version of The Girl on A Train. Do yourself a favor and wait for the 2016 movie by the same name which by all accounts is pretty good.

Had wanted to watch this film to see Nicki Aycox's performance. For those looking for a Maxim femme fetale version.. binged.it/1xencd2 .. be advised she's not lookin at all like that in this role (although it seems to have called for it). As for the film itself.. can understand what many are saying about the dialogue. Sometimes writer-director's are at a disadvantage, here it appears to have gone that way. Don't have any huge issues with the acting.. but the scrip was made more complicated than need be.. that coupled with the scene jumping all over the place.. it just all becomes overload. Maybe a second viewing (and using subtitles) will bring it more into focus.