★ ★ ★ ½ ☆

Emily Blunt rescues this pulpy whodunit from its more clunky moments with a remarkable central performance. She stars as Rachel; an unemployed, alcoholic divorcee who – on her daily train journey to nowhere – catches a glimpse of a woman she’s watched from the tracks many times before. Only this time, she’s kissing a man who isn’t her husband. When the woman, Megan, goes missing, Rachel becomes entangled in the investigation, much to the concern and suspicion of her ex-husband, Tom (Justin Theroux), and his new wife, Anna (Rebecca Ferguson).





For the first time in an age, I came to this adaptation having actually read the source novel. Paula Hawkins’ potboiler – relying so much on the written thoughts of its three central characters – does not immediately scream ‘movie magic’, but the way in which the main narrative hangs on a single image (Megan and her mysterious lover seen through the window of a speeding train) is decidedly cinematic.





When attempting to picture the morose, eternally-intoxicated and allegedly unalluring Rachel, the visage of Emily Blunt does not immediately spring to mind. However, there is so much conviction in her voice and a real effort to tone down the Hollywood glamour that the whole façade is surprisingly effective, thanks not least to some subtle but effective make-up and prosthetics.





While Blunt’s casting may have raised objections and quizzical responses, the secondary characters are an array of undoubtedly excellent casting choices. The master stroke is Luke Evans as Scott, Megan’s skittish husband. Evans’ earnest vocal inflections speak to Scott’s sincerity, but his bulky, somewhat thuggish physicality ensures he remains a prime suspect. Edgar Ramírez carries a similar disposition as Megan’s therapist, Kamal Abdic, while Ferguson acts everyone else off the screen with eyes that are simultaneously burning but restrained.





It’s amazing how little is lost in the commute from page to screen. The largest alteration is the move from Britain to the US, but Blunt retains her accent (a conscious effort, one imagines, to make the transition smoother). The lack of an internal monologue (save for small spats of necessary narration) is hardly felt, and the slightly episodic feel slowly oozes away as the flashbacks become less frequent. There are also some neat visual elements introduced, too: Rachel draws what she sees, rather than keeping a written diary, and a statue in the park towards the end reveals the tale’s true form. Not a crime thriller, not a mystery, but a story about the struggles of three women.





Gone Girl, but remains grounded in Rachel’s story by employing ‘the drunk aesthetic’. Objects a certain distance from our heroine’s viewpoint become fuzzy, and jumpy editing emphasises the small moments lost in the process as she is buffeted about by onlookers and events alike. The cinematography itself is – there’s really no other word for it – cool. It’s an enticing, blue-grey affair that occasionally brings to mind Jeff Cronenweth’s work on, but remains grounded in Rachel’s story by employing ‘the drunk aesthetic’. Objects a certain distance from our heroine’s viewpoint become fuzzy, and jumpy editing emphasises the small moments lost in the process as she is buffeted about by onlookers and events alike.





Besides the many twists and turns of the story, perhaps the biggest surprise is a completely counterintuitive score from Danny Elfman, completely free of his idiosyncrasies but still supremely effective. Perhaps the fact that it’s so different from his usual style (a style that I readily admit became stale for me some time ago) makes me more inclined to praise it, but having listened to it separately since seeing the film, I strongly disagree.



