Brad Anderson's 'Transsiberian' Looks Like The Train Ride From Hell

Brad Anderson, the indie director whose has lately been into disturbing psychological thrillers (See: “The Machinist“) has a new flick out, “Transsiberian, which after being shown earlier this year at the Sundance Film festival, was picked up by First Look Studios and is slated for an August 1st release date.

“Transsiberian” is yet another film supporting Woody Harrelson’s uninvited comeback, who is cast as an “ah shucks” American traveling from Beijing to Moscow on the legendary Transsiberian railroad with his wife, Emily Mortimer (“Match Point”). Along the journey they are befriended by a euro trash couple, (played by Eduardo Noriega and Kate Mara) who are more sinister than they initially appear, and harassed by a seasoned Russian detective, played by Sir Ben Kingsley.

Harrelson was born to play the role of the ignorant American lost abroad and Mortimer did a fantastic job as the stuffy sexually repressed wife in Woody Allen’sMatch Point“, but can she dump her Englishwoman manners, uncross her legs and dumb down enough to convince us she is an America woman?
Anderson has done quality work in the past, and “Transsiberian” looks as though it could fool enough of the unrefined Tom Cruise-loving public into thinking it is going to be an explosion filled action movie, instead of a slow moving psychological thriller (judging from his previous work) to get a few asses in seats.