Brad Anderson’s train thriller is an effective piece of cinema that keeps tension high while taking a series of twists and turns along the way.
The film opens with the police investigation of a drug dealer that was robbed and killed, with the investigation headed up by Grinko (Ben Kingsley) who after discovering that someone is on the run with the drugs sets out to track the trail. We are then introduced to a couple, Roy and Jessie (Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer), who are doing some charity work in Beijing who get are taking the Tran Siberian Railroad back to Moscow before heading back to the states. Roy is openly more religious of the two and Jessie is a bit scarred of getting pregnant, and while there is a bit of tension between the two they get along for the most part. Enter their bunk mates, a younger couple named Abby and Carlos (Kate Mara and Eduardo Noriega) who are a pair of free spirits that seem to be hiding something. Abby warns Jessie and Roy that drug mules are a big problem on the railway, and that they should make sure to have all their ducks in a row with customs and their passports to avoid detention.   [Read more...]