The Girl on the Train

Dir: Tate Taylor

2016

***

I have a rule about film adaptations but it comes with an amendment. I generally insist on reading the book first before watching the film adaptation, especially with the classics. However, a couple of years ago I saw so many people reading Paula Hawkins's The Girl on the Train, it was everywhere and before I knew it had become a 'Bestseller'. I don't tend to read 'Bestsellers'. Not because I'm cool, think I'm cool or am trying to be cool. I'm not cool. I just find that every 'Bestseller' I'm told to read usually turns out to be bitterly disappointing, so much so, that I've not given up. I also have so many old books on my 'to read' shelf, I won't get round to new books until I'm an old man. So now, I will allow myself the pleasure of watching the film without having read the book first for books I have no intention of reading in the first place. The truth is, a certain couple of people I know read the book and didn't stop going on about how great it was and these are people I generally have the opposite tastes to. After watching Tate Taylor's The Girl on the Train adaptation, I don't feel I've missed out or have made a bad decision. It's a perfectly enjoyable thriller but it is formulaic as hell. It's pretty much like every other murder mystery crime thriller ever written but with slight changes. I appreciated the character development and that some of the characters were a little more complex than is usually found within the genre but the structure, twist and conclusion were on very familiar territory. The film also cheats in what it shows the viewer, although this is always something rather tricky when adapted from written word. The film's highlight, and probably what made the book so popular, is the central character of Rachel Watson (the girl on the train). She's not really a typical character from any kind of thriller and Emily Blunt's portrayal of her was rather good. Indeed, it is the best thing about the film by a country mile. Visually the film is unexciting but the pace is good and I was entertained throughout. It is a very easy watch, a non-complex thriller you can relax to. It's no white-knuckle ride and you don't have to be a genius to work it out but I neither guessed the outcome nor felt compelled to try and work it out before the end credits rolled up. It is slightly spoiled by the last few scenes that had me screaming at the screen and face-planting myself in unison but you could watch a lot worse on a rainy Sunday afternoon.