Transsiberian: Critic Reviews

A thriller aboard the Trans-Siberian line, stretching roughly 5,000 miles from Beijing to Moscow, should be a cinch, right? Not so fast, Casey Jones.

A handsomely remodeled variation of a cherished genre you might call the mystery-train movie.

All in all, the film is an excellent, if modest, alternative for moviegoers who have been blockbustered into submission this summer.

Unfortunately, there's never a moment where you can't see Anderson and his co-writer, Will Conroy, yanking on the strings.

The cramped, cold setting creates an appropriately ominous atmosphere, and while Mortimer and Harrelson are noticeably mismatched, their journey together is compelling enough to make the ride worthwhile.

Transsiberian starts in neutral, taking the time to introduce its characters, and then goes from second into high like greased lightning. I was a little surprised to notice how thoroughly it wound me up. This is a good one.

Director Brad Anderson throws in a red herring or two as he comments on Eurotrash and the greed-fueled lawlessness of the former Soviet Union, but he ultimately makes an even stronger statement about the dark side of female empowerment.

A morally complex if plot-wobbly thriller set on the Trans-Siberian Express as it rockets (well, creaks and groans) through snowy forests and forgotten towns.

Writer/director Brad Anderson gives us an artful, shifty-eyed take on human strengths and weakness; his film delivers the pleasure of a conventional tale well told, with clever twists and complex characters.

An engagingly up-to-date melodrama steeped in local color.

An atmospheric, Hitchcockian thriller set aboard a famed train route, Brad Anderson's Transsiberian is a genuine sleeper that jump-starts an almost extinct genre.

Transsiberian is a paranoid, chilling train trek that borrows freely from the best Hitchcock pictures to give us that rare adult summer thriller -- 'adult' as in not based on a comic book or video game.

Has terrific Siberian location work, a carefully constructed atmosphere of creeping dread and an outstanding performance by Emily Mortimer.

A splendid revival off the old Hitchcock train-suspense movie set aboard a most ominous train.

A queasy-making train thriller directed with vibrant visual panache by Brad Anderson.

All the actors get their tickets punched, and the screenplay doesn't insult anyone's intelligence.

Mystery-train thriller chills, then goes off the rails.

Hitchcock would be proud of this trainbound suspense thriller with Woody Harrelson playing against type. A first-rate story, great action and great direction. Take the trip!

The story itself takes a few bloodcurdling turns off the tracks, with well-played action sequences.

Although it doesn't go as far as Strangers on a Train, TransSiberian is worth the ride.

as Hitchcockian thrillers go, it's one of the smarter and more absorbing ones made in recent years

hearkens back to those glorious tales of intrigue and adventure that populated film screens in the 30s and 40s.

Transsiberian is a deeply engrossing film from the get go. It sucked me in with a simple, yet often overlooked, idea - interesting characters.

Smart, unnerving, and sharp as an icicle to the eye, Transsiberian is the chilliest of midsummer thrillers.

Can you say, "No good deed goes unpunished?"