Director: Mikael Hafstrom
Writer: Stuart Beattie (Screenplay) James Siegel (Novel)
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Clive Owen, Addison Timlin, Melissa George, Jennifer Aniston, RZA
Plot: When two married business executives having an affair are blackmailed by a violent criminal, the two must turn the tables on him to save their families.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Good Twist Filled Thriller
Story: Derailed starts as Charles Schine (Owen) is recounting the events of what happened, this starts the flashback as we see happily married Charles to Deanna (George) and their sick child Amy (Timlim) but he is tired of the routine. When running late Charles forgets his ticket for the train where beautiful banker Lucinda Harris (Aniston) pays for his ticket.
When the two look to engage in an affair they get attacked by LaRoche (Cassel) who knocks Charles out before raping Lucinda. Paying LaRoche off, Charles believes he is out but LaRoche isn’t finished with Charles yet, blackmailing him into giving him money to keep quiet about the affair and things continue to get worse from her for Charles.
Thoughts on Derailed
Characters/Performance – Charles is a banker with a perfect little life, married with a child who is sick. He gets engaged in a potential affair only to find himself being blackmailed by the criminal who makes him risk his personal life, his career and even his own freedom. LaRoche is the criminal that blackmails Charles, he even gets personally involved in his life to make this happen. Lucinda is the woman that Charles tries to have an affair. Deanna is the wife Charles has back home, who spends as much of her time looking after their sick daughter.
Performance wise, Clive Owen is good in this leading role as the desperate man pushed to the limits, Vincent Cassel is always a good villain in any movie and this is no different. Jennifer Aniston does a good job in her role which goes in directions you wouldn’t have expect her to go too.
Story – The story is a good watch as we see how one man must face consequences for action that he finds himself in after nearly getting involved in an affair. This is a good watch and flows nicely even if you don’t agree with everything that Charles is going the story has enough twists to keep you wanting to see more.
Crime/Thriller – The crime side is all blackmail based as the Charles must find a way to keep the blackmailer quiet and this keeps us on the edge of our seats to see where things will be going.
Settings – We see the quiet home life Charles has to the busy life for the work. We see how the criminals can work in the shadow too.
Final Thoughts – This is a thriller that is enjoyable and a good watch from start to finish.
Overall: Good thriller that keeps us on the edge.
Rating
