‘Train’ ride filled with twists

Metro-100716-TrailerReview

Still reeling from her divorce, Rachel (Emily Blunt) passes her former home — where her ex-husband now lives with his new wife — on the train every day and begins watching a couple, Megan and Scott, who live nearby. When Megan goes missing, Rachel wakes up with bruises and no memory of what happened. We all agree that the plot is intriguing, but the flawed characters might be a little hard to put up with.

The Girl on the Train opens in wide release Oct. 7.

NICOLE: The trailer was very 50 Shades of Grey-esque in pre sentation and music/colors, which was kind of a turn-off for me. But after reading the book, I must admit that I really want to watch the film. It is kind of similar to Gone Girl with the twists and turns,and I hope the movie can do a good job of making it as completely engrossing to watch as it was to read.

PAIGE: The appeal of The Girl on the Train, much as the appeal of Gone Girl, is in its narra tion — the unreliable narrator who may or may not be telling the truth (and may not even know themselves which it is they are sharing). I don’t know how that will translate to film. Most films struggle with conveying that sense of limited perspective.

NICOLE: I wonder what kind of prep work Emily Blunt had to do to get into this role. Ra-chel’s character, based on the book, is a really raw look at how something like alcoholism can bring out the worst in a person.

PAIGE: Casting Emily Blunt was smart because it forces Rachel to be inherently likable, but gosh, I just don’t know if I could sit through a whole movie of this. Flawed characters are interesting, sure, but these characters were so flawed it was nearly a caricature. I think the book was a little overhyped, clearly.

NICOLE: I think the destructive behavior within Rachel is very relatable … The bad-decision spiral is a real thing. Once you make a bad choice, it just seems easier and easier to make even worse ones in quick succession.

PAIGE: The trailer reveals a lot of information. I feel like the trajectory of the story was pretty obvious based on what they reveal. Again, a weird decision since the book’s appeal is its slow drip of truth vs. delusion. It’s pretty clear who the killer is, no?

CHRISTINA: As someone who has not read the book, I did not think it was obvious who the killer is. Like, I really don’t know and I HAVE to know. It seems like they are implicating everyone. This trailer made me really intrigued. It seems like they are setting it up for Emily Blunt to be the killer — but it seems too heavy-handed in the trailer, so I bet that is not the case.

NICOLE: I can’t wait to see what other gems author Paula Hawkins comes out with, and I hope Hollywood does her debut novel justice.

PAIGE: I had a hard time with this book because the characters are all just so frustrating. Rachel makes bad decision after bad decision. You just want to reach inside and shake her to make. Her. Stop. Megan is … a piece of work, to avoid spoilers. The men are all douches. The other women are all douches. Everyone here is intensely unlikable. I couldn’t stop reading, but it was also a kind of agony.