Transsiberian (2008/First Look Studios Blu-ray + DVD-Video)
Picture:
B/C+ Sound: B/B- Extras: C Film: C
Trains
have always made great places for thrillers to take place, all the way to Peter
Hyams’ underrated Narrow Margin
(1990, reviewed elsewhere on this site) but for a long time, have hardly been
used, even in James Bond films. Trains
in a film do not always mean murder, but Brad Anderson’s Transsiberian (2008) is touted as a thriller, involves murder and
with a cast that includes Ben Kingsley, Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer, we
expected something good form the director of The Machinist.
Harrelson
& Mortimer play a couple riding the famed vehicle from Beijing to Moscow
and instead of a fun vacation, they get music piped into the train no one can
shut off, meet new people who only seem nice at first and drug trafficking that
could get them killed if they cross into it.
There are the Russian Gangsters (seems in most U.S. and British films
these days, Russians are gangsters since the two cinemas may not be over the
fact that they are no longer communists) and an ex-KGB man (Kingsley) whose
affiliation with everything is a real wild card.
Unfortunately,
character development is weak, the story has little suspense, it becomes
increasingly hard to believe and when things really begin to happen, the film’s
credibility has already frozen up. Add a
scene that is more like torture porn than anything else and Harrelson is
flatter than he should be. Anderson and
Will Conroy do not take full advantage of the possibilities of the train and
this becomes a big disappointment, especially since this could have worked
with… more work. It is a curio at best,
but ultimately falls flat.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image has been stylized and darkened to have a
“cold winter” look, but that limits the fidelity of the frame as lensed by
Director of Photography Xavi Giménez (The
Machinist, The Nameless, The Abandoned) knows how to do such a
shoot (in Super 35mm here), but unlike his work with Anderson on The Machinist, this does not work as
well. Part of the problem is that even
in HD, it eventually becomes counterproductive.
The anamorphically enhanced DVD is poorer, with weak blacks and washed
out detail. I was surprised that both
versions only included Dolby Digital 5.1, which is barley better on the Blu-ray
since there is more room for the dated codec and is slightly higher. The only extra on both is a making of
featurette, give or take previews.
For more
on Giménez’s work, including his best film with director Anderson, try these
links:
The Nameless
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2199/The+Nameless+(1999)
The Machinist
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2924/The+Machinist+(2003)
- Nicholas Sheffo
