Transsiberian Movie Review

Directed by Brad Anderson

Starring Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer, Kate Mara, Eduardo Noriega, and Ben Kingsley

Availability on dvd now

Brad is one of those directors that I really like but dont love. His movies lack something to push it over the top like a Christopher Nolan picture. I really liked Session 9, The Machinist and even his Masters of Horror entry but something always leaves me wanting more. I can say this is easily my favorite of all his movies. Its been a few days since Ive seen it and some of the scenes still stick out in my head.

The movie is about this man(Woody Harrelson) and his wife (Emily Mortimer) that are on a missionary trip in China. After their stint of helping the kids is done they decide to go on the transsiberian train trip from China to Moscow, Russia. While on the trip they meet up with another suspicious couple, a spanish guy Carlos, and another American girl. Without giving away too much, there is a murder, some drugs smuggled and a crafty Russian Dea agent (Ben Kingsley) hot on the trail.

First of all the acting was superb. I normally cant stand Woody Harrelson but he played against type and did a great job. Emily Mortimer who played the nervous wife with the dirty past was great as well. I know shes not the most beautiful actress but she has a "I'm a good girl that needs fucked" look to her that I just love.What Brad does succeed at is building great moments of tension. There were several white knuckle incidents when you thought someone might get caught doing something redhanded. If I would have reviewed this immediately after watching I would have given it a low score but the movies stuck with me so I must have liked it more than I originally thought. On a scale of 1-10 I give it a "board to the head" 7.9 out of 10.