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Tracks in the Ice

Ah, train travel. Nothing sparks suspense like being trapped with perfect strangers in a claustrophobic tube hurtling through anonymous and unfamiliar terrain. From Hitchcock ("The Lady Vanishes", "Strangers on a Train") to Bond ("From Russia with Love", "The Spy who Loved Me"), from Agatha Christie ("Murder on the Orient Express") to Gene Wilder ("Silver Streak"), filmmakers and authors alike have set their sinister plots on rails, with varying degrees of success (lest we forget "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory"), since man first laid down tracks. And now "Transsiberian", a modest thriller from director Brad Anderson, puts the formula to good use by setting the action aboard the titular Russian-Chinese train line and populating it with some wildly surly locals (the Transsiberian tourism bureau is not likely to be happy about this one).

The script, by Mr. Anderson and Will Conroy, finds an American couple just finishing humanitarian work for a church in China. Taking the opportunity for "an adventure", clueless husband Roy (Woody Harrelson, playing the naïve card with unexpected effectiveness) and restless wife Jessie (Emily Mortimer, only slightly miscast) pitch camp for the six-day cross-continental journey in a four-bunk cabin the size of a prison cell. The mood is set immediately when the couple is unintelligibly berated by a steward. After that, tales of drug-running mules and local police corruption are added into the mix. All this is set against a beautifully bleak, snow-covered wilderness (filmed in Lithuania), and the train is peopled with enough extras "for atmosphere" to make any traveler long for the comforts of home.

Jessie's a closet photographer and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that some of her photos may come into play later in the story. Likewise, mysterious cabin-mates Carlos (Eduardo Noriega, appropriately greasy) and Abby (Kate Mara, gothing it up) may not be exactly who they seem. Before long, passengers disappear (as they're wont to do in these movies) and the film takes an odd turn for the grisly. Finally, "Transsiberian" derails with an ending that, if it weren't predictable enough, comes complete with flashbacks (in case you weren't paying attention).

It's possible that Mr. Anderson, who sets a promising mood of oppressive desolation, underestimated the patience or attentiveness of his audience. After making us squirm for an hour of "what would you do in this situation" tension, he falls back on tired twists and misplaced gore. Judging by one unintentional laugh-line, he might have been better off making the film a comedy: at one point, when all seems lost, a character pleads to his captors "we're Americans!" And the audience cracked up. Now that's scary.