Derailed is on Track, Unfortunately

Film: Derailed
Cast: Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, Vincent Cassel
Director: Mikael Håfström

I like Clive Owen. He has a raw intensity about him. His looks are edgy, unlike your average movie star. A slightly derailed persona, if there ever was one. From Owen you expect a performance, and a film, that is at least a bit out of the ordinary. Derailed, however, disappoints.

The story of a man who has a casual affair and pays for it bitterly when he is blackmailed repeatedly has been oft told. So if you are going to do it again, you need to have something new. Director Mikael Håfström does not have any.

Charles Shine (Owen) is a commercial executive. He has a normal (which means loveless) marriage. Charles commutes by train to work everyday. He has one of these chance encounters (which happen only in movies) with Lucinda (Aniston). The two hit off and soon it is time to consummate the affair. They choose a dingy little hotel. Our accidental lovers are interrupted in the act by a thug, LaRouche (Cassell), who assaults them and decamps with their money. Soon the blackmailing begins, and in no time it turns ugly.

You wish Derailed would get derailed and do something out of the ordinary. But no, it follows the same monotonous track. Within half an hour you have already guessed the ending. The climax is too rushed and the holes in the plot are far too many. Håfström's direction follows predictable lines.

Clive Owen sleepwalks through a role that is clearly not meant for him. Jennifer Aniston is no great shakes as an actress and she doesn’t prove us wrong. Vincent Cassell, who was so good in Ocean’s Twelve, has tried his best for a character that is terribly underdeveloped.

Derailed is terribly ordinary. And that is as big an insult as I can thing off. If you are feeling thoroughly bored and couldn’t care how you spend your money, you could take a look. I wouldn’t.