Amazon.co.uk Review
With a nasty villain and a plot twist that will take many viewers by surprise,
Derailed is the kind of potboiler that's enjoyable in spite of its flaws. It's basically two-thirds of a good movie, with a convincing set-up and a barely plausible payoff that... well, you've just got to see it and decide for yourself. Like
Fatal Attraction, it's a good-enough thriller that turns infidelity into every man's nightmare, beginning when Charles (Clive Owen), a well-to-do Chicago advertising director with a sickly, diabetic daughter and a slightly troubled marriage, has a chance encounter with Lucinda (Jennifer Aniston), a lovely and quick-witted financial advisor who's also stuck in a marital rut. Their chemistry is instant (between both characters and stars), but their eventual hotel tryst is interrupted by a mugger (French actor Vincent Cassel at his vile, despicable best) who's out to milk Charles for every dollar he's got. Of course, one phone call to the police would solve everyone's problems, but as he did with Collateral (albeit more convincingly), screenwriter Stuart Beattie turns up the tension with such manipulative skill that you're willing to skate past the plot holes and go along for the ride. With lively supporting performances by rappers Xzibit and RZA,
Derailed marks a commercially slick American debut for Swedish director Mikael Håfström, whose 2003 thriller
Evil was a Best Foreign Film Oscar-nominee. --
Jeff Shannon
Synopsis
Coming off the series finale of FRIENDS, Jennifer Aniston sets out to prove herself a serious actress with DERAILED, a tense thriller that is anything but funny. While the film gives most of its screen time to Clive Owen, Aniston proves, as in THE GOOD GIRL, that she is capable of pulling off a dramatic role. Meeting on a commuter train one morning in Chicago, ad executive Charles (Owen) and financial analyst Lucinda (Aniston) have an immediate connection. Worn down by his job, strained marriage, and a sick child, Charles finds himself drawn to the escape Lucinda can offer. A lunch meeting, followed by dinner and drinks, leads the way to a rendezvous in a sleazy motel, where no sooner have the adulterous lovebirds ripped each other's clothes off than a sadistic thief (Vincent Cassel) breaks into the room and puts them through hours of nightmarish horror. Because of their relationship's illicit nature, the two are unable to go to the cops, and are thus virtually powerless to their attacker's every whim, leaving themselves open to blackmail as he threatens their families and lives. Choosing momentary gratification and the excitement of the unknown over the values he generally holds dear, Charles more than pays the price for his indiscretion. Playing off his audience's greatest fears, director Mikael Hafstrom creates some scenes so horrific they are sure to haunt viewers for hours after the credits roll. A morality tale of sorts, DERAILED explores the terrible effects of lying and infidelity, while the film's most powerful scenes leave viewers with the paranoid feeling that the only person you can trust is yourself.
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