The Girl on the Train

Being faithful isn't always a virtue, especially in adapting a novel as popular as Paula Hawkins's The Girl on the Train. It's a neat if rather too tidy domestic thriller and director Tate Taylor (The Help) doesn't add any surprises of his own. Relocating the action from London to New York adds little, but the casting of the usually fresh-faced Emily Blunt as a dumpy alcoholic represents the one compelling deviation. As Rachel, she seems more tragic for looking like the kind of woman others might envy. She obsesses about her ex (Justin Theroux) and his new wife (Rebecca Ferguson) while projecting a romantic fantasy onto their neighbour Megan (Haley Bennett), all of whom live by the railway line that takes Rachel into Manhattan. When Megan goes missing during one of Rachel's booze-fuelled blackouts, Rachel wonders if she has crossed a line, and a need to ingratiate herself with Megan's husband (Luke Evans) brings added psychological depth to a formulaic mystery. The truth of what happened to Megan is never as intriguing as the mystery of who Rachel really is - and what she is capable of - and it's that particular element that draws you into the story.