They never saw it coming.
Advertising director Charles Schine (Clive Owen) is just another Chicago commuter, regularly catching the 8:43 to work. But the day he misses his train is the day that changes his life. He meets Lucinda Harris (Jennifer Aniston); charming, beautiful and a seductively good listener. Charles is instantly attracted and it is immediately apparent that the feeling is mutual, even though she is married too. Lunch dates become cocktails after work, and lead to a rented room in a seedy hotel. But suddenly their illicit liaison turns into a nightmare, and becomes more dangerous and more brutally violent than either could have imagined. Unable to talk to his partner or to the police, Charles finds himself trapped in a world he doesn't recognise, and which he needs to fight his way out of, before his life is derailed for good...
Special Agent Matti
Derailed is a thriller and a good one, too. Clive Owen is as sympathetic an adulterer as I've ever seen. Jennifer Aniston isn't wacky or kooky. Melissa George is housewifey. Vincent Cassel is unstoppably criminal - he's so hard-core: très full on. Stuart Beattie has written a cracker. Mikael Håfström made it nice and dirty. I like a good story and Derailed has one. I like it when all the baddies get their just desserts, especially when the goody is a baddy, too. No-one is untainted in this movie. Cool.
Of course, there's a twist, but it's a twist that you won't see coming. That's the kind of twist I like: the kind that hits you right between the eyes, leaving you like a stunned mullet on the beach.You'll never take the train again.
MA 15+ (Strong violence, coarse language)
107 minutes (1:47 hours)
Film: 23 February 2006
DVD retail: 12 July 2006
