I'm Staying Home
- Review By:
- PoseyDozer
- Date:
- February 9, 2009
- Movie:
- TransSiberian
- Director:
- Brad Anderson
- Released:
- 2008
- Good Guy:
- Roy
- Played By:
- Woody Harrelson
- Bad Guy:
- Grinko
- Played By:
- Ben Kingsley
- MPAA Rating:
- R
- Family Friendly Ages:
- Not for kids
Did everyone miss TransSiberian when it came through theaters in 2008? I sure did. I never saw a trailer or commercial for it. So when I sat down to watch it a few days ago, I had no idea what to expect. And that is the perfect way to watch a thriller like this one.
TransSiberian is the story of a mismatched American couple, Roy (Woody Harrelson) and Jesse (Emily Mortimer), who travel to China as volunteers with Roy's church. Roy is an outgoing, naive and genuinely good guy. Jesse is more wary and, as it turns out, willing to cross moral boundaries to avoid trouble in the short term. The couple catches the trans-Siberian train to Moscow after their stint in China is over. On board, they meet another young couple (Kate Mara and Eduardo Noriega) and a Russian police officer (Ben Kingsley). There's a murder and … Nah.I won't give the plot away. I'll sum it up the way Ben Kingsley's character does: "You can go forward with lies, but you can never go back."
Interested? I hope so. The acting is uniformly superb right down to the supporting characters. The plot falters ever so slightly at the tippy end, but not until after the action is resolved. Throughout, you feel the fear, panic and helplessness of being in trouble in another culture and legal system. TransSiberian is thrilling alright. Thrilling enough to make you want to stay home. Don't miss it.
- Comment from:
- tpb
- Date:
- February 12, 2009
I'm not sure I'm in agreement with you on the Good Guy choice. I would have picked the Jesse character over the Roy character.
- Comment from:
- PoseyDozer
- Date:
- February 12, 2009
I disagree with you regarding the good guy character. Jesse was the main character, but I would not characterize her as the "good guy." The good guy is the person who saves the day and does the right thing. Though his role was not as central as hers, Roy was the one who did both of those things.
- Comment from:
- PoseyDozer
- Date:
- February 12, 2009
P.S. Thanks for your comments! I agree with your point about not always wanting everything neatly wrapped up.
- Comment from:
- tpb
- Date:
- February 13, 2009
Regarding Roy... Ok... so he had a moral center that Jesse didn't seem to have. So I can see why you would put him in the Good Guy role. But I'm not sure if Good Guy is always a descriptive term so much as it is a euphemism for Main Character. From this site's movie reviews alone, for example, we have Le Samourai (hired assassin); Run Lola Run (criminal); Memento (motivated killer); The Professional (assassin). These are not Good Guys by literal definition, but they have claimed that spot by virtue of their Main Character roles. I see what you are trying to do, but I'm not sure it's across-the-board applicable. And, maybe, that's just the way it is... reviews are subjective anyway. So the reviewer can pick and choose.
The end was abrupt, no question... it seemed a little too neatly-wrapped up too... I don't need every movie I see to explain/resolve every single somewhat-murky detail... One of the things that made this movie so tense was the fact that there were so many unknowns... I would have been satisfied with continuing to "not know' through to the end. I suspect that is part of the Hollywood model that film makers are required to follow though... Which is why indie films are so enticing, I guess. Now that I've said all that, I'm not going to be as generous in my 'Plot' rating as was thinking I would be initally... Thanks for the review!