The Girl On The Train Review

Justin and I saw The Girl On The Train on October 8, 2016! I apologize for this review being late, but I haven't really been able to write since I've been pretty busy. However, I had to write something for this, because I absolutely loved this movie from the opening credits. This was an excellent thriller centered around three female protagonists with distinct personalities.

This movie had a great focus on characterization. I thought the slow build tension worked well for the deep rooted issues in our female characters. Each of the female characters deals with personal struggles which makes them more well rounded. Rachel, Anna, and Megan all are connected to the same man in some way which really intrigued me. I like when character arcs tend to converge into one path. It makes for something interesting when the movie hits it's crescendo and reveals the connection. The character of Rachel may be my favorite character this year. Though flawed due to alcoholism, we see how she became like this. We see the character of Anna eventually realize how much better she is without a domineering man in her life. Anna tells women everywhere to always carry a corkscrew, because you'll never know when you'll need it. You need to see the movie to understand this. What an incredible scene that was! The audience applauded loudly. Megan's arc gets overlooked, but is one of the most crucial pieces of the movie.

Haley Bennett's Megan & Rebecca Ferguson's Anna seem to be portrayed as villainous vixens from the outset, but you realize they are just as vulnerable as Rachel is early on. Rachel shows a more physical form of vulnerability through her drinking, but you can see the mental and sexual strain placed on Megan & Anna. Female driven movies always tend to intrigue me more. While Bennett & Ferguson were excellent, it was Emily Blunt that stole the show! Her work as Rachel was a true career defining performance! She was a perfect representation of a character hitting rock bottom, but ends up scratching and clawing her way back to find salvation. While I've discussed how incredible the women are, we really can't discount Justin Theroux's work in this movie as Tom. I think Theroux is great at playing dark characters, and he played the antagonist role extremely well here. A movie needs a despicable villain to have an audience get more emotionally involved, & Theroux does that. His interaction with Blunt, Bennett, & Ferguson are intense & indicative of how dark and deep this movie is.

This movie gets a definite 5/5 from me for incredible performances (hoping Emily Blunt gets nominated at the Golden Globes & The Oscars for her work here-just incredible), impressive direction, memorable scenes, and a haunting score that stays with you.