Derailed is a movie I didn't hear of before watching it and likewise my expectations weren't too high.It tells the story of two married strangers that meet in a train, get attracted to each other and end up victims of a crime. While one of them is being again and again threatened by the criminals, the other one turns out to be a bit more involved than first thought.All in all this is a basic thriller. It does have some plot twists and kind of a character development, so it is not really predictable but nonetheless somehow it's hard to really identify with either character. Not only that the way crimes are committed in the movie is rather obvious (No gloves, ever / Police even sees the corpse) or unbelievable (How did he get the knife into jail?), it is also irritating how he becomes a romantic hero, when all that prevented him from cheating was being knocked out.If you just want to watch something to let your mind wander this will do a decent job. If you hope for more, there are better titles.

Corporate incompetent even messes up having an affair, and suddenly everyone is in danger.Can a decent script ever find Jennifer Aniston? A good actress, as is Melissa George, but they're both sidelined in this story.Problem I have is this assumes the audience will root for the guy with a parasitic corporate job who's just providing for his family. No - I want to see how and why the con-artists do what they do. Much more interesting. Instead the story creates an us-and-them world, where good people live in big shiny buildings, bad people live in smelly hovels, and the hero must have his implausible way.The twist is hidden, but only in the sense that you suspected it but forgot while the story meandered on for half an hour. The run time is probably ten minutes too long, and the story really does grope for direction after the excellent opening sequences.Really good dialogue, all the actors sparking, but then too much emphasis on the hero. And on and on ... until, "I've made a horrible mistake" - why not throw that line in at the end of the first act, instead of waiting for 80 mins? That way the other characters could have pitched in to the story, instead of having brief wrap-up scenes in the end.

Question: Do you generally like thrillers? If the answer is 'Yes' then you should appreciate this. It's nothing special, but there's just about enough to it to warrant investing an hour and a half of your time into it. Sure, you may not remember it in twenty years, but I think you'll be entertained nonetheless.For a start you have two decent leads – Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston and they always turn in pretty decent performances. They play a couple of high-flying city executives who meet by coincidence on a train and begin an affair. Let's just say things go downhill for the pair of them pretty soon after that.You may notice that I'm steering clear of mentioning too much about the plot. Basically, the reason is that the plot – although nothing absolutely amazing – is one of the film's selling points. If I told you too much about what happens, it would definitely detract from the film's enjoyment as you'd probably start guessing (correctly) what was going to happen.There's enough to it to raise it above the masses of 'straight-to-DVD' B-movies out there. Fans of the two leads will obviously enjoy it more and anyone who likes something just that little bit tense should be entertained by it.Obviously, there are a couple of moments where you may find yourself yelling at the screen, "But I wouldn't do that!" You're just going to have to accept that on-screen characters don't always do what we would. Don't let it ruin the film for you. It's better than a few nit-picked gripes with the overall plot.Nothing too special, just solid.

Derailed is directed by Mikael Håfström and adapted to screenplay by Stuart Beattie from James Siegel's novel. It stars Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, Vincent Cassell, Melissa George and RZA. Music is scored by Ed Shearmur and cinematography by Peter Biziou.Charles (Owen) and Lucinda (Aniston) meet on a commuter train and in spite of the fact they are married, start flirting. Ending up in a hotel one night, they're beaten and robbed by LaRoche (Cassell) who promptly starts blackmailing Charles......There's a decent thriller in the mix here, if only it had had a director able to hide the surprises and a writer capable of not making his male protagonist such an unlikable git! It's a shame because the premise is a good one, and there are good performances from an agreeable cast. Film essentially asks us to root for Charles as he battles with a reoccurring villain of some nastiness (Cassell genuinely unnerving), yet not only is he a love cheat (a lovely wife at home and a very sick daughter), he also makes ridiculous errors of judgement. While the holes in logic for some sequences are bafflingly poor. Still, it does have thrills and it doesn't soft soap the violence. Taken on popcorn thriller terms, it's above average and worth a watch, but it's not half as clever as it thinks it is. 6/10