Straight from the Hollywood thriller cutting block comes 'Derailed,' a film that falls somewhere in between entertaining and superfluous. It's one of those twisty con artist movies with plenty of curveballs, though a zealous eye could probably uncover most of the plot within the first 20 minutes.
Clive Owen plays Charles Schine, a married man whose life seems to be on the skids until he meets Lucinda Harris (Jennifer Aniston) by chance encounter on a train. The fact that she is married too doesn't stop them from taking their lust for each other to a seedy hotel room, but they don't get far before a man (Vincent Cassel) breaks into their room, robs them at gunpoint and rapes Lucinda.
After that, it's a semi-clich?? 'thrill-ride' of spooky phone calls (Cassel wants more money, who would have thought?), underground meetings and murder. The improbable chain of events should alert any viewer that nothing is nearly what it seems. Lucinda refuses to go to the police, even after Cassel injures and robs Charles again and threatens his family. Charles is the only one he's bothering for money, even though Lucinda is far more wealthy. The list could go on.
By the end of the film, after a healthy combination of twists and their accompanying plot holes, the characters stumble upon a conclusion. The final shock is a pretty good one, admittedly, though the route to it is a bit less than believable.
One factor that hinders the film, besides the screenplay, is the complete lack of any sort of character depth. Instead there's an overdose of story and action which leaves little time for aspects like character development. It doesn't help that the usually suave Clive Owen and ditzy Jennifer Aniston seem terribly miscast in their roles as pathetic family man and con artist, respectively.
That's not to say that 'Derailed' is completely devoid of quality. While the thrill ride lasts, it's highly entertaining to try to figure out what's really going on and how it might end. A couple of the supporting actors shine as well, such as the diabolical Vincent Cassel and RZA, who works in the mail room of Charles' office and tries to help him out.
In the end, director Mikael Hafstrom's first English language film is nothing more or less than average. It is a forgettable, yet mildly exhilarating couple of hours that basically just get the job done. Just don't think too hard.
