THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
A badly paced thriller with repugnant morals—skip this train.
Should You Watch It?
The central mystery has a promising setup: an alcoholic woman who watches strangers from a train becomes entangled in a missing-person case. But the film is badly paced, and its twist is only somewhat thrilling because the filmmakers deceive the audience with fabricated shots.
The deeper problem is moral. Nearly every character is repugnant, and the film repeatedly shifts blame instead of showing people taking responsibility for their choices. Strong foul language, graphic violence, alcohol abuse, and multiple lewd scenes make the experience excessive and unacceptable.
The practical answer is simple: skip this train and choose another movie.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESRachel Watson is a divorced alcoholic who spends her days riding a train past her old home, where her ex-husband lives with his new wife and baby. Two houses away, Rachel watches a young couple she believes embody perfect love.
When Rachel sees the woman with another man, she becomes angry and vows to punish her. After a drunken night she cannot remember, Rachel wakes with blood on her head and shirt. Then detectives tell her the woman is missing, and Rachel fears she may have done something terrible.
Is It Any Good?
Two stars means this film has a few worthwhile elements but does not succeed overall. Emily Blunt plays Rachel’s tortured soul brilliantly, even though the character is especially unlikeable at the beginning.
The film’s non-linear storytelling contains too many time jumps and tries to make simple plot points intriguing. Instead, the structure hinders the pacing. Director Tate Taylor also fails to build suspense, and the final twist feels more effective because the audience has been misled with fabricated shots. The result is a mediocre mystery with limited thrills.
The Worldview
The film presents a world filled with characters who act immorally and shift blame rather than accept responsibility. Men are portrayed as sex-craved control freaks with bad tempers, while abused women drown their pain in affairs or alcohol. Rachel’s rebuilding includes learning not to be manipulated, which is a positive moral element, but the film still seems to place responsibility for her alcoholism on her deplorable ex-husband. Megan’s infidelity is similarly explained through a tragedy from her past.
This creates an ethically weak worldview. The story contains strong feminist undertones in which deplorable male characters practically take the blame for some women’s immoral choices. Destructive behavior is explained away more often than it is confronted.
The film’s small movement toward rebuilding and freedom from manipulation cannot replace genuine moral responsibility. Scripture says, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Strong pagan worldview of characters acting immorally and shifting blame on others instead of taking moral responsibility, with some grotesque celebration of violence, plus strong feminist undertones where male characters (though deplorable) practically take the blame for some of the women’s immoral choices and a light moral element of a woman rebuilding herself in the end and learning not to be manipulated by others or by alcohol; at least 55 obscenities (including about 50 “f” words) and 7 profanities; strong violence includes woman hit in face, woman’s head is smashed against the floor, woman is pushed against a rock and hits head, and then has her skull crushed by a rock, man is stabbed in the neck by a corkscrew, angry woman then screws it deeper into the mans neck, it’s implied that a baby drowns in a bathtub; several moments of depicted sex between married couples and unfaithful spouses, though each depiction is a flashback and lasts around five seconds long, and woman seduces her therapist by pulling up her skirt; upper female nudity of woman in shower, rear female nudity of woman jumping out of bathtub and upper male nudity; strong alcohol use with many scenes of drunkenness; no smoking or drug use; and strong miscellaneous immorality such as vengeance, unbridled anger and lying.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
When people do wrong, what does it look like to take responsibility rather than blame someone else?
Proverbs 28:13 · 1 John 1:9How can alcohol and other destructive habits become ways of avoiding pain instead of facing it honestly?
Ephesians 5:18 · Psalm 34:18What is the difference between refusing to be manipulated and refusing to admit your own wrongdoing?
Galatians 6:5 · James 5:16How should anger be handled before it becomes vengeance or violence?
James 1:19–20 · Romans 12:19The Final Word
This thriller has a promising mystery but poor pacing, a mediocre twist, and an ethically weak worldview. Its excessive profanity, graphic violence, alcohol abuse, and lewd scenes make it unacceptable for families. Our answer is SKIP IT. For better options, see.
