Derailed

Derailed comes to us from screenwriter Stuart Beattie, whose last script was the wonderfully crisp and dialouge-heavy Collateral. That film kind of fell apart in the final half-hour, but it was an uncommonly intelligent and character-driven Hollywood thriller, the rare mainstream action film that spends more time worrying about the people who drive the action, rather than how many explosions and car chases they will wind up in.

Here, Beattie tries a number of the same tricks over again. As in Collateral, this is a thriller that opens deceptively with a long, flirty conversation between strangers, establishing a theme and a mood long before gettig into an actual story. As in the previous film, violent mayhem begins by sneaking around the edges of the frame until it comes to dominate all the primary relationships. (Each film, in, fact, has a "shock" moment where one of the good guys is randomly and suddenly killed off on-screen). Finally, in both films, lead characters are forced to turn their tables on their attackers, shifting subtly from reactive civilians into take-charge action heroes.

Michael Mann's Collateral navigates these waters with precision and confidence, turning Beattie's sometimes-goofy script into a taut L.A. noir. Derailed doesn't have a director with Mann's level of talent and experience (the director is Swedish newcomer Mikhail Hafstrom), and also lacks a premise as high-concept and cogent as Mann's film. Instead, it's a fairly limp erotic thriller in the Adrian Lyne vein (particularly similar to that director's overpraised Unfaithful). The opening half-hour is appealing enough, bouyed by the extremely likable leads Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston. But it's clear from just about the exact moment the plot kicks in that this will be a plodding, uninteresting piece of nastiness, a surprisingly dark, grim thriller that's equal parts pedestrian and predictable.



Charles Schine (Owen) rides the train to work every day from the Chicago suburbs to his downtown advertising office. One day, after forgetting to bring enough money for a ticket, he makes the acquaintance of beautiful banking executivre Lucinda Harris (Aniston). They hit it off immediately, and after a few mornings of train-bound banter, they decide to meet up in the city for a one-night stand.

And it's during their tryst in a skeezy hotel room that they encounter Phillippe LaRoche( Vincent Cassel), a psychotic thug who beats Charles into submission, rapes Lucinda and makes off with their personal information so that he can harrass them later on at home.

So this sets up a classic noir kind of dilemma. Charles can't tell the police about Phillippe without letting his wife and Lucinda's husband know about the affair. And Phillippe knows this, so of course he wants to use the edge to blackmail his victims. These conflicts will drive the remainder of the film.

It's a very simple idea, which in a lot of these kinds of films can be a good thing. A simple scenario helps to keep up the level of intensity. A lot of sub-plots and side characters only tend to make these movies more confusing, not more exciting. But I'm tempted to say that Derailed is a bit too simple and straight-forward. The story rarely deviates from its pre-set, routine course (any question as to whether Phillippe will show up at Charles' house and threaten his family?). When it does kind of mix things up, as in a strange sub-plot featuring rapper The RZA as an ex-con who comes to Charles' aid, it's usually an elaborate red herring, pointless in the grand scheme of the story.

An extra word about The RZA, who's actually alright in the small role of Winston, the well-read former jailbird. He's one of two rappers featured in major roles in the film. (Xzibit also appears in a supporting turn as a thug). 2 rappers in the film, and both of them play criminals. Couldn't, just once, a rapper appearing in a mainstream film play some other kind of role? Just once? Snoop Dogg plays these "amusing felon" roles so often, he could teach classes on it at Stella Adler.

Really, all my other problems aside, this entire film is about the final twist. Actually, there are two "final twists," one coming at about the 90 minute mark and the next about 15 minutes later. I'm tempted to say that a viewer's entire opinion on the film will probably work around their impression of these two twists. If, as I did, you saw them coming a mile away, you probably won't think Derailed is a very good film. But if you get caught up enough in the story to overlook its predictability, or if you're unable to guess exactly how Charles is going to work it all out, then maybe you'll have a good time.

It still needs to be sexier, though, to really be successful as an erotic thriller. (Also, and maybe it's just me, but a movie in which the female lead is raped by a thug before she has a chance to get involved with the main character is going to have a hard time actually being a sexy movie.)