TransSiberian (2008)

★ 6.4 1h 51m 795 votes IMDb
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A TransSiberian train journey from China to Moscow becomes a thrilling chase of deception and murder when an American couple encounters a mysterious pair of fellow travelers.

TransSiberian

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Cast

Woody Harrelson
Woody Harrelson as Roy Age 64 · Midland, Texas, USA Woodrow Tracy "Woody" Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor. He first became known for his role as bartender Woody Boyd on the NBC sitcom Cheers (1985–1993), for which he won a Primetime...
Emily Mortimer
Emily Mortimer as Jessie Age 54 · London, England, UK Emily Kathleen Anne Mortimer (born 6 October 1971) is a British actress and filmmaker. She began acting in stage productions and has since appeared in several film and television roles. In 2003, she w...
Kate Mara
Kate Mara as Abby Age 43 · Bedford, New York, USA Kate Rooney Mara (born February 27, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for her work in television, playing reporter Zoe Barnes in the Netflix political drama House of Cards (2013–2014; 2016),...
Eduardo Noriega
Eduardo Noriega as Carlos Age 52 · Santander, Cantabria, Spain Eduardo Noriega Gómez  (born August 1, 1973) is a Spanish film actor, perhaps best known for his roles in two Alejandro Amenábar films, the multiple Goya Award-winning Tesis (English: Thesis) (1996) a...
Thomas Kretschmann
Thomas Kretschmann as Myassa Age 63 · Dessau, German Democratic Republic [now Germany] Thomas Kretschmann (born September 8, 1962) is a German actor best known for playing Leutnant Hans Von Witzland in the 1993 film Stalingrad, Hauptmann Wilm Hosenfeld in The Pianist, Hermann Fegelein i...
Ben Kingsley
Ben Kingsley as Grinko Age 82 · Snainton, North Riding of Yorkshire, England, UK Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a...

Audience Reviews

Wuchak 8/10 May 20, 2019
***Slow-build suspense on the Trans-Siberian Express***

A couple doing missionary work in China (Woody Harrelson & Emily Mortimer) takes the Trans-Siberian train from Beijing to Moscow, but their involvement with a dubious couple (Eduardo Noriega & Kate Mara) gets them entangled with a no-nonsense narcotics detective (Ben Kingsley).

A relative told me a story of his travels in Russia back when it was part of the USSR: He said the deeper he journeyed into the country the more it seemed like he was going back in time. At one point he happened to turn around in some kind of an installation and immediately got stopped by authorities and apprehended. He was taken to the proverbial dark room with a hanging light where he was interrogated for a couple hours. I asked what he thought was going to happen and he said he feared getting taken to a gulag in Siberia.

I bring this up because you’ll see these kinds of elements in "Transsiberian" (2008), a crime drama/suspense/thriller that has the tone & themes of “A Simple Plan” (1998), but mixed with a little “Runaway Train” (1985) and “Dr. Zhivago” (1965). While I still prefer “Runaway Train” I have no problem listing “Transsiberian” with these notable films, despite the fact that it’s an obscure flick that bombed at the box office (no doubt because it wasn’t released properly and didn’t reach enough theaters).

“Transsiberian” works so well because it has the confidence to take its time and establish the characters, which are nicely fleshed-out. Roy (Harrelson), for instance, is an affable Christian who seems oblivious to the evil in the world and assumes the best in everybody. His wife, Jessie (Mortimer), by contrast, has a dark history, but was obviously attracted to Roy’s innocence. She sees her former-self in Abby (Mara), which links them. Meanwhile Carlos (Noriega) is the worldly bad boy who’s an expert at wooing women.

But this is just the set-up, the movie takes a thrilling turn in the last act, but it’s superior to the similar Hollywood turn in “A Simple Plan,” which I found unconvincing and a little eye-rolling.

The film runs 1 hour and 51 minutes and was shot in Lithuania, Russian and China.

GRADE: A-
tmdb15435519 5/10 Apr 24, 2021
Another excellent Woody Harrelson performance. Otherwise, not really worth a watch.

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