i saw trans-siberian recently based on the high praise on the thread, & my wife & i really enjoyed it... there are a few things i can say about it, but what i liked most is that it was very effective at building & maintaining suspense & kept you guessing what was going to happen next with some genuinely well crafted surprises & reversals...
without a spoiler, the scene where ben kingsley is looking at the female leads camera was one of the most "hitchcock-like" cinematic moments i can remember in a long time...
Hmm...I remember Rudnicki saying it was great a page or 2 back, and JDD basically agreeing, but thats all I saw. I did just watch this a few hours ago though.Personally, I found
Transsiberian somewhat dragged out and boring. The 1st 20-25 minutes seemed utterly pointless, but my biggest complaint was the characters. I understand its a movie, but much of these characters actions bordelined on mentally disabled as the movie went on. I like Woody Harrelson too, but he did nothing for me here and just seemed totally miscast. Kate Mara was at least nice to look at, but thats about it.
I cant agree whatsoever with the suspense being built up throughout either. There wasnt even any suspense at all until Emily Mortimer and Carlos' scene in the woods, and that had to be 1 hour into the movie already. Once Woody was back with her and Kingsley came into the film, I thought it was pretty good and suspenseful (but still with just stupid thinking/actions, mostly on Mortimer's characters part), but to me that was too little too late to say it was more than 3.0/5.0.
I do agree that scene you mention Bob was excellent though.
I thought Mortimer did a fantastic job acting in this, but she was the lone bright spot. Ive come to expect more from Kingsley, but he was okay. I thought the scenery/backdrop was beautful and stirring and was used nicely to add to the suspense, but I still found too many things I didnt like about it to really recommend it to someone. You can certainly watch worse though.