Don't you just hate when you see the opening act of the movie and are pretty sure you know how it will play out? And don't you hate even more when it turns out you're right?
"Derailed" is much like that. Clive Owen plays a man trapped in a marriage where all romance faded into daily care of an almost terminally sick daughter. Anyway, he meets a stranger on a train (Anniston), falls for her and decides he's in the mood for a little affair. Things go horribly wrong when in the middle of hanky panky a french guy bursts in, beats the crap out of poor Owen and rapes Anniston. But the fun ain't over yet as it turns out, since the french guy starts to blackmail Owen for all the money he's got. Money he and his wife saved for some "new" cure that will 99% help his daughter.
The movie plays its cards well, but as I said, it's just a bit too predictable to be truly enjoyable. For instance, when the french guy kidnaps Anniston instead of a more logical choice of Owen's wife or child, wouldn't you find it a bit too convenient? Or how about the "accidental" stopping of the cab? Or even a dead give-away with Annistons opening speech? I don't know how the writer of the novel the movie is based on handled this, but the movie made sure to write in big letters "JENNIFER ANNISTON IS IN ON IT" from the very start.
But knowing that fact is not the only thing that bothered me. The other big thing is, of course, the fact that the money Owen loses is meant for his child's recovery. You simply know he is going to get it back, since no recent Hollywood movie could be THAT sadistic to let a sick child die. So what do we do? Why, we bring that good old deus ex machina and leave it whirling and clanking for the better part of the movie's final act. By the end you will be rolling your eyes in disbelief and longing for the good old days of the first half of the movie, where things were still a bit realistic and at least kind of surprising.
All in all, this is not a bad movie. Hey, perhaps you didn't see some stuff coming, so it might have worked even better for you. Me, I would have loved if the second half got heavily rewritten, and some REAL twists and surprises were included. Hey, I would have even settled for the ambiguous ending if the movie cut a minute or two before the final resolution. At least I would get some shock value out of it, instead of leaving the theater with good old moldy happy ending aftertaste.
"Derailed" is much like that. Clive Owen plays a man trapped in a marriage where all romance faded into daily care of an almost terminally sick daughter. Anyway, he meets a stranger on a train (Anniston), falls for her and decides he's in the mood for a little affair. Things go horribly wrong when in the middle of hanky panky a french guy bursts in, beats the crap out of poor Owen and rapes Anniston. But the fun ain't over yet as it turns out, since the french guy starts to blackmail Owen for all the money he's got. Money he and his wife saved for some "new" cure that will 99% help his daughter.
The movie plays its cards well, but as I said, it's just a bit too predictable to be truly enjoyable. For instance, when the french guy kidnaps Anniston instead of a more logical choice of Owen's wife or child, wouldn't you find it a bit too convenient? Or how about the "accidental" stopping of the cab? Or even a dead give-away with Annistons opening speech? I don't know how the writer of the novel the movie is based on handled this, but the movie made sure to write in big letters "JENNIFER ANNISTON IS IN ON IT" from the very start.
But knowing that fact is not the only thing that bothered me. The other big thing is, of course, the fact that the money Owen loses is meant for his child's recovery. You simply know he is going to get it back, since no recent Hollywood movie could be THAT sadistic to let a sick child die. So what do we do? Why, we bring that good old deus ex machina and leave it whirling and clanking for the better part of the movie's final act. By the end you will be rolling your eyes in disbelief and longing for the good old days of the first half of the movie, where things were still a bit realistic and at least kind of surprising.
All in all, this is not a bad movie. Hey, perhaps you didn't see some stuff coming, so it might have worked even better for you. Me, I would have loved if the second half got heavily rewritten, and some REAL twists and surprises were included. Hey, I would have even settled for the ambiguous ending if the movie cut a minute or two before the final resolution. At least I would get some shock value out of it, instead of leaving the theater with good old moldy happy ending aftertaste.