So I decided to try the rent feature in Itunes.
My first rental, was the film Trans-Siberian.
The film is part of the old genre "US citizens in peril whilst touring". In this variation, a young Christian couple are excited to take a tour of Siberia on the famed Trans-Siberian Express. At first its one of those innocent affairs in which the worst that could happen is to read the train schedule wrongly or get a tongue lashing from an authoritative Russian woman. But during one stop on the line, they finally meet their sleeper car partners, a rather shady looking couple and their bag full of Matryoshka dolls.
Of course the film follows that sensationalized line that Russia is full of wall to wall gangsters. And of course our Hansel and Gretel are sure to stumble upon them and be appropriately terrorized. And this is where the film falls apart. The addition of the gangsters just throws the film off and leads it into the realm of the unbelievable. The story of a young couple being taken advantage of by another couple was interesting enough in it's own right. The shady couple with their suspect dolls are on the run from customs inspectors who regularly make the rounds on the Trans-Siberian. When they see our innocent duo, they decide to unload their contraband on them thereby releasing the horrors of tracksuit wearing muscle men upon them.
The acting by Emily Mortimer was wonderful. And I look forward to seeing her other films. Woody Harrelson does his well worn, wide eyed doofball act that he was forced into ever since Cheers. People think he does that well but I don't find it believable at all. I thought he was much better in Natural Born Killers, in roles where that aw shucks country boy act hides a calculating intelligence. In this film he has nowhere to go except to be even more confused by everything and everyone. Ben Kingsley was miscast. I found him too animated and expressive. He should have had more reserve in his actions instead he telegraphed everything he was thinking or planning. It was the wrong quality and I think Armin Mueller-Stahl did a better job on this type of character in Eastern Promises.
Ultimately I did not like the film. I thought it expiated the guilt of one of the main characters too conveniently. And it implied that the other half of the shady couple got away with a fortune. Uhm, yeah, those dogs in customs aren't only trained to find drugs they are also trained in alerting officials to travelers carrying a large amount of currency too. I would love to know how this anti-heroine got past them.
But back to Itunes rental. Its convenient if a bit too expensive. They do need to lengthen their rental time. A 24 hour time limit is silly when most services offer 48 hours. My advice is to watch the film immediately and all the way. Or risk losing the rental.Labels: commentary, culture, movies, reviews, technology