Transsiberian

Rating:

Who’s in it: Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer, Ben Kingsley

What’s it about: An American couple on a train from Peking to Moscow find themselves caught up in a plot involving drug smuggling and murder.

All aboard: Harrelson is the straight-arrow Iowa hardware store owner with a thing for trains; Mortimer is his former-bad-girl wife. The train ride is meant to be an adventure – a transcontinental trip through a mysterious world that turns dark very quickly, when they hook up with a pair of veteran travelers (Eduardo Noriega, Kate Mara). Things turn even murkier when Harrelson gets left behind, forcing Mortimer to wait for him at the next stop, while trying to keep her demons – and the hunky Noriega – at bay.

This movie builds suspense and layers clues throughout, as the train hurtles through the snowy chill of the Siberian landscape. Toss in Kingsley as a corrupt Russian cop and you’ve got a compelling stew of secrets, lies and violence. The key performance here is Mortimer, as a woman with a dark past who turns surprisingly dangerous when she’s forced into a corner. But Kingsley is even more scary as the cop who always knows more than he tells.

Long story short: It’s a ticket to a very twisty ride.