AN atmospheric, Hitchcockian thriller set aboard a famed train route, Brad Anderson’s “Transsiberian” is a genuine sleeper that jump-starts an almost extinct genre.
A restrained Woody Harrelson plays Roy, a good-natured American rail buff who has just completed a church-sponsored mission with his wife, Jessie (Emily Mortimer). They embark on a weeklong train trip from Beijing to Moscow, where they plan to do some sightseeing before heading home to Iowa.
After crossing by train into Siberia, they share a compartment with a sexy Spaniard, Carlos (Eduardo Noriega), and his teenage Canadian traveling companion, Abby (Kate Mara).
When Roy fails to get back on the train at a stop, the other three disembark at the next station to wait for him to catch up. Jessie reluctantly agrees to pass several hours by traveling with Carlos deep into the Siberian woods on a picture-taking expedition.
She knows he’s a drug smuggler, but that and Carlos’ rugged good looks brings out Jessie’s bad-girl past – with very unfortunate results for both of them.
Jessie returns alone and Roy arrives on the next train with his new pal Grinko, a wily Russian narcotics detective, a veteran of the Soviet era played by Ben Kingsley.
Things build to an action-packed climax aboard the train as Jessie tries to dump incriminating evidence and deflect accusations by Abby. Meanwhile, Grinko is busy grilling suspects with techniques not approved under the Geneva Convention.
Mortimer, a veteran British actress whose credits include “Match Point” and “Redbelt,” is terrific as the severely conflicted Jessie. Kingsley, as usual, delivers the goods as the cynical but pragmatic detective.
Brad Anderson, who is far less well known than the unrelated Wes or Paul Thomas Anderson, does his best work as a director here.
He slowly builds suspense on a big canvas as the two naive Americans abroad face bigger and bigger dangers.
“Transsiberian,” impressively filmed on location, is a travelogue that also serves as a cautionary tale.
TRANSSIBERIAN
The smuggler vanishes.
In English and Russian, with English subtitles. Running time: 110 minutes. Rated R (graphic violence, profanity). At the Paris and the Angelika.