I had read the bestselling book by Paula Hawkins and I admit that I was hooked by the intertwining stories of three women, the dangers of alcoholism and falling in love with the wrong man. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the film version directed by Tate Taylor who made the highly entertaining The Help which is also based on a book about women on the Southern region in the US.
Emily Blunt in my book, is one of the most beautiful and likable actresses in the world right now and playing the character Rachel Watson who's a divorcee and an alcoholic with lots of issues, isn't just her. The book describes Rachel as a loser and Blunt tries her best to be like that but it doesn't really match her. She is joined in the film by the lovely Rebecca Ferguson (so good in Mission Impossible Rogue Nation and unrecognizable here because of her different hair color) who plays Anna, Rachel ex-husband's (Justin Theroux) new wife and mother of their child and Jennifer Lawrence's doppelganger Haley Bennett (The Magnificent Seven) as Megan, the one that connects them all in a different twisted way.
Rachel rides the train everyday in her work commute, passes by her old neighborhood and while inside, she's always observing a couple on the route who lives two houses from where she used to live. When she sensed that there's something wrong, Rachel uncovers the past that might have the effect of what she is now.
What could have been an engrossing thriller based on the page turner turned out to be a melodrama that's better seen on the small screen.
