Derailed
Starring: Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, Vincent Cassel, Melissa George, The RZA, Xzibit, Giancarlo Esposito
Directed by: Mikael Håfström

Released in the US on: November 11th, 2005
Released in the UK: December 2005

Reviewed by: Tyler Sanders, ZBoneman.com

Derailed marks the American debut for Swedish filmmaker Mikael Hafstrom, whose film will undoubtedly profit from a bit of fortunate timing, as it features Jennifer Aniston in her first post-Pitt appearance. Derailed revolves around a successful advertising executive, played by an uncharacteristically meek Clive Owen who meets a woman, played by Jennifer Aniston, on a commuter train. Owen, a married man with a child, has forgotten his fare and the two meet when Aniston volunteers to pay for his ride. Her character is also a successful business executive, and as their daily commute puts them in each others path, a relationship eventually ensues.

Before long they reach the motel stage of their dalliance, but just as the two are about to consummate their relationship, they are unexpectedly mugged. The smarmy Vincent Cassel plays the assailant who also rapes Aniston in the process. This strange turn of events leads us into a lot of heavy-handed dramatics. In order to protect their families and hide their tryst, they decide not to report anything to the police. As a consequence Owens’ character falls victim to an extortion scheme authored by Cassel. In order to come up with the money he is forced to use up the savings set aside for his daughter’s grave diabetic condition. Again, the film suffers from way too much heavy handed melodrama. And to top that he seeks help from a young black mailroom worker, played well by hip hop auteur the RZA, whom he has helped in the past.

Pardon the pun, but at this point the film becomes derailed by it’s own plot twists and a revenge scheme that ultimately undermines the integrity of the characters. And the whole film seems to manipulate it's own tone from dark drama to action revenge film.

The trailer for the movie was an effective tease that held out the promise of a steamy and taut suspense thriller, wrapped around an intimate character study. Alas such was not the case, as Hafstrom’s is no Hitchcock and his debut is mostly mediocre and poorly conceived. Too bad because there is a fine Clive Owen performance to be found in it.

Grade: C-