‘Derailed’

This movie may remind you of classic ’40s films, with their snappy dialogue and smart editing.

By:Bob Brown
   Strap yourself in for this one. Derailed starts off nice and easy. But without warning, it lurches around an unexpected bend, and from there on it’s a thrill ride to the finish. Mikael Hafstrom (Ondskan) directs from a taut screenplay by Stuart Beattie (Collateral), based on James Siegel’s thriller novel.
   If Hitchcock were alive today, he might have optioned this one. Siegel’s work is the perfect airport novel, a page-turner that would keep passenger-readers glued to their seats without even a bathroom break. In the movie, Charles Schine (Clive Owen) is an account executive at a Chicago ad agency, to which he travels like clockwork on the commuter rail line. One morning, the complications of preparing his daughter, Amy (Addison Timlin), for school, and seeing off his wife, Deanna (Melissa George), lead him to miss his regular train. In his haste to catch the next one, he has forgotten he has no money to pay. The conductor threatens to throw him off at the next stop.
   An attractive young woman offers to pick up his fare, however. Charles cannot ignore this kind gesture, and the two fall into conversation. In the usual scenario, say North by Northwest, this would be a classic meet cute, leading to passion and eventually marriage. However, this meeting is tempered by the fact that the woman, Lucinda (Jennifer Aniston), is already married and also has a daughter. She’s safe, she’s committed, and therefore flirtation can’t be improper.
   But that very fact, mutually acknowledged, makes it all the more tempting to plumb this new relationship, if that is what it is, deeper. The other complication is that Charles and Deanna are raising a seriously ill daughter. Amy has type 2 diabetes and has gone through three kidney transplants already. The only answer now is a costly experimental drug that might keep her body from rejecting new organs. Charles cannot afford to be sucked into an affair that would distract him from his daughter’s needs. He has been a strong provider.
   But his situation makes Charles all the more vulnerable and attractive. His daughter has become the most important female in his life. As a result his marriage suffers. The man is open game and the woman knows it. Before they realize what’s happening to them, Charles and Lucinda are taking lunch breaks together, then lying to their spouses and taking an evening break together — a hot, lustful break in a fleabag Chicago hotel.
   As the action gets hotter and the mood reaches the point of no turning back, their world slams down to earth. Viewers should be cautioned that what follows is uncompromising. The language and the physical violence are as raw as it gets in an R-rated film. This would not be a good date movie.
   Just when you’ve figured out where things are going, your brain gets an education. Charles is driven so hard by what is happening to him and what he must do to save his family and his job, he loses objectivity. His passions have blinded his analytical eye. The film turns into a duel of wits, involving Charles and Philippe (Vincent Cassel), an extortionist thug with whom Charles trades threats. Lucinda withdraws to her office downtown in a financial services firm, hoping to avoid the crossfire. Eventually, she, too is pulled back into Charles’s troubles.
   The situation resembles that of Cape Fear. Like Sam Bowden, Charles would do anything to save his family from threats, even things he might not have been capable of before he was caught in this web.
   There is not a wasted prop or motion in this tightly plotted thriller. But for all that, it begins with a quiet, domestic setting that seems very natural and ordinary. Owen, who came to U.S. audience attention in The Croupier, conveys a kind and empathetic man burdened with more than his share of woes. But he has the intelligence and the guts to play rough and ruthless when cornered.
   Now that Friends is done, Aniston can begin picking the roles that will use her considerable talent and training as a serious actress. Here she takes a turn quite unlike the stock comedies she’s been in. Besides Mr. Cassel, other supporting rolls are standouts, including the hip-hop artist RZA as Winston, Charles’s office mail clerk, and Xzibit as Dexter, the thug bodyguard who’s been trying to break into commercials with his music.
   English composer Ed Shearmur (Four Brothers) holds it all together with a suspenseful score. The cinematographer, Peter Biziou (Unfaithful), provides the dark, saturated hues appropriate to film noir. This movie will remind you of those classic films of the ’40s, with their snappy dialogue and smart editing. For viewers whose taste runs to the more contemporary take on extreme violence, Derailed packs a wallop in more ways than one.
Rated R. Contains strong disturbing violence, language and some sexuality.