Bad guys, tough choices, make ‘Transsiberian’ a thrilling ride

In China, corn-fed Iowan, Roy (Woody Harrelson), and his recent bride, Jessie (Emily Mortimer), have just finished up a stint of Christian missionary work under the auspices of Roy’s church. Roy’s a train buff, so they opt for the Trans-Siberian for the first leg of their trip back to the States. But their experience is hardly the stuff of glamorous vintage travel posters. Not only do they find the train hostess surly, the plumbing clogged, and gratuitous Captain and Tennille piped incessantly into the sleeping cars, but cops patrol the cars with drug-sniffing dogs, conducting brutal interrogations of anyone they suspect of trafficking illegal substances.

All of which rolls right off big, blond puppy dog Roy, certain that his status as an American, and his faith, will protect him from harm. Less certain is Jessie, who has had to exorcise a few dark demons of her own to get where she is, and is more aware than Roy of the fragility of their position in a random, dangerous world.

It’s Roy who befriends another young couple on the train, charming Spaniard Carlos (Edouardo Noriega) and his waifish American companion, Abby (Kate Mara), who have been teaching English and Spanish in Japan. Roy is eager to soak up the secrets of international travel from the seasoned pair, with whom they share a sleeping car, and soon they’re all sucking down vodka with the locals in the baggage car as the train crosses into Russia.

It’s all about atmosphere as portent accrues in Anderson’s plot: Jessie’s almost intrusive photo-snapping, Roy’s easygoing lack of guile, the nameless tension generated by sexy Carlos. When the vodka-fueled men start boasting about their battle scars, one old timer reveals his Gulag tattoo, reminding us of all the sinister forces that haunt the Siberian wasteland like unquiet ghosts. After a brief stopover in Irkutsk, when Jessie discovers that Roy is no longer on the train, the action shifts into high gear and never slows down again.

Anderson identifies his protagonist pretty early on (not exactly a hero, but someone sympathetic from whose viewpoint much of the story unspools), and the choices this character opts to make from one moment to the next escalates the level of narrative dread from tense to delirious. As to the designated villain, and victim, the filmmaker has a few surprises up his sleeve—even after dogged Russian police inspector Ilya Grinko (Ben Kingsley) boards the train outside Moscow to sort things out. Acting in both Russian and English, combining haunted world-weariness with courtly bonhomie, Kingsley commands every frame he’s in.

Not every plot twist is bullet-proof. (A character conveniently disappears from the action for awhile by hiring a car and driver for a destination and reasons unknown, but that plot point is never referred to again. And the motivation is unclear when one character chooses to show another a suitcase full of dubious cargo.) Also, the film’s central incident, and the slippery morality with which it’s handled, may alienate viewers hoping for more decisive consequences, although others may cheer Anderson’s cynical outlook. Either way, it keeps viewers talking long after this wild ride is over.

TRANSSIBERIAN

*** (out of four)

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