Derailed

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This article is about the 2005 film. For the 2002 film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, see Derailed (2002 film).
Derailed

Derailed (2005) movie poster
Directed by Mikael Håfström
Produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Written by Stuart Beattie (screenplay)
James Siegel (novel)
Starring Clive Owen
Jennifer Aniston
Vincent Cassel
Melissa George
Addison Timlin
Giancarlo Esposito
with Xzibit
and RZA
Music by Ed Shearmur
Cinematography Peter Biziou
Editing by Peter Boyle
Distributed by - USA -
The Weinstein Company
- non-USA -
Miramax Films
Release date(s) November 11, 2005
Running time 106 min.
Country USA
Language English
Budget $22,000,000
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Derailed is a 2005 American thriller/drama film based on a James Siegel novel by the same name adapted by Stuart Beattie. The film is directed by Mikael Håfström and stars Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston and Vincent Cassel.

Contents

[edit] Plot

 The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article.
Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot.

The protagonist, Charles Schine (Clive Owen), is an advertising executive married to a schoolteacher in Chicago. The introductory scenes of the movie reveal that Charles' marriage is deteriorating due to the stresses of caring for a teenage daughter who is seriously ill with diabetes, while the parents both have busy careers.

While on a commuter train, Charles encounters an alluring woman named Lucinda (Jennifer Aniston) — he had forgotten his fare and was about to be thrown off the train when Lucinda offers to pay for it. The attraction is mutual, and the two begin meeting more frequently. Ultimately, the two are intent on consummating their affair in a shady hotel. Just as Charles and Lucinda are about to have sex, an armed man later named as Philippe LaRoche (Vincent Cassel) bursts into the hotel room, beats Charles and brutally rapes Lucinda. Charles and Lucinda agree not to report the crime, as they do not want their spouses to learn of the affair. Shortly after the incident, Charles is blackmailed by LaRoche, who threatens to kill Charles' family if he doesn't pay $20,000, which Charles does. But a month later, the attacker calls again, demanding $100,000 — and he's calling from Charles' house. Charles rushes home to find LaRoche visiting with his wife Deanna (Melissa George) and daughter Amy (Addison Timlin), posing as a business associate.

Charles has a friend, Winston Boyko (RZA), who works in the mailroom at work and has done jail time. Winston admits to killing a man while in prison. Charles tells Winston about LaRoche and asks for advice. Winston offers to scare LaRoche away in return for 10% ($10,000) of LaRoche's demand. As they prepare to approach LaRoche in Winston's car, Winston shows Charles the shank (make-shift knife) he used in prison. He gives it to Charles for good luck. But LaRoche is a step ahead, and kills Winston in his car. The murder is almost discovered by a couple of corrupt cops flirting with a prostitute named Candy (Georgina Chapman) — and Charles barely escapes being implicated in the murder. Charles has to clean up the crime scene, so that he won't be suspected of the murder himself. He attempts to do this by driving the car into a nearby body of water, but the car gets stuck on the shore and Charles flees at the sound of approaching police sirens.

The next day, Charles is questioned by a police detective named Franklin Church (Giancarlo Esposito), who is also Winston's uncle, about his coworker. Later, Charles receives a call from LaRoche — he's got Lucinda at gunpoint, and will kill her if Charles doesn't bring the $100,000 immediately. Charles does by taking money from an account meant to provide for the daughter's medical treatment. The payoff complete, he and Lucinda say a tortured goodbye.

That night, Charles confesses to his wife that he has spent the money they had been saving for seven years. Although he is not shown confessing the affair, it is suggested that he does when he says "I'll tell you everything. And it's not just about the money."

Before another meeting with Detective Church, where Charles plans to tell the whole story, he decides he first has to let Lucinda know. He stops by her office, where he discovers she's not who she said she was. Lucinda Harris was a real financial adviser's name, in the person of a black woman, pinpointed to by the blonde receptionist when Schine asks for Aniston's presence at the counter. Here, Schine (Owen) becomes suspicious.

Charles immediately goes to the condo unit (room 4101) to check if "Lucinda" was there, thinking she might have been kidnapped again by LaRoche. Upon arriving, he sees a lady "condo seller" (lady in wine red overcoat) engaged in a pitch to sell the unit. The lady gives Charles a brochure, where he sees the cover (a girl standing in a tire swing) similar to the wallet picture "Lucinda" shows off at their train ride as her acclaimed daughter. Schine gets his second "clue".

Charles learns that Lucinda was in on the scam from the beginning; it was a setup.

Charles plans to track down "Lucinda"'s where-to. He goes to the same train station they met, and waits, in the possibility of seeing her, for Lucinda outside a train. Indeed, Lucinda steps out and heads to an unknown direction. Charles continues the until he witnesses an unexpected scene - "Lucinda" meeting up with Laroche, by a shiny black limousine, and kisses him amorously; Lucinda and LaRoche are actually lovers. Charles is dumbfounded.

Charles tracks Lucinda in the restaurant where they used to had dinner. Lucinda is seen with another scam 'victim', a married guy. Lucinda calls LaRoche or Dexter (Xzibit) to let them know they're heading for the same motel.

Charles tracks Lucinda and the guy back to the hotel, where she, LaRoche and Dexter are setting up yet another mark.

Lucinda and the guy go inside the room and start to foreplay. Charles waits for LaRoche to approach that room, and then knocks LaRoche unconscious before he enters. Charles breaks in with an unconscious LaRoche in his hands. Lucinda is shocked by Charles' sudden arrival and denies their acquaintance when asked by her intended victim. Charles shoots LaRoche and demands his money back. Dexter enters the room and a gunfight ensues. It appears that everyone but Charles dies, including Lucinda, LaRoche, Sam Griffin (David Morrissey) and Dexter. Charles wipes his prints from the guns and slips away. On the way out — as the police are emptying the hotel safe — Charles sees his old briefcase. He reclaims it and finds that it still has his $100,000 in it.

The next day, Charles gets busted for embezzling at work (he scammed $10,000 to pay his coworker, Winston, to help him), and is sentenced to six months of community service, teaching at a prison. It turns out that LaRoche survived the gunfight, and is an inmate at the prison. After his class assignment, Charles picks a blue booklet, among his class's other booklets, with a black pen scribbling "Sidetracked". He reads on and finds out that it was about him. The conclusion of the story in the booklet tells Charles to enter the laundry room. Upon his arrival there, LaRoche taunts him, only to find that Charles tracked him here on purpose, to finish the job. Charles stabs LaRoche to death with the shank given to him by Winston.

Upon departure, Charles meets Detective Church. He claims he was attacked and acted in self defense, but Church, Winston's uncle, isn't so sure. He hints to Charles that he knows it wasn't self-defense, but recognizes that LaRoche killed Winston and decides to let Charles walk away.

In the end, we see that Charles is reunited with his wife and daughter, with his daughter seemingly cured of her sickness (probably due to the money he got from the briefcase, he was able to purchase the new "anti-rejection" drug he spoke about earlier, which would allow her body to accept a new kidney).

[edit] Cast

[edit] Reception

[edit] Box Office

Derailed opened in 2,443 theaters for an opening weekend gross of $12,211,986. The film made a domestic gross of $36,024,076 and an international gross of $21,455,000, giving it a worldwide gross of $57,479,076.[1]

[edit] Critics

Derailed did rather poorly with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a rating of 21%.[1].

"Gripping while it lasts, but will be hard to remember in the morning" - Rich Cline (Shadows on the Wall)
"Derailed doesn’t crash and burn, but it should be more intriguing - it falls all over itself trying to be really clever – 3." Cherryl Dawson (TheMovieChicks.com)
"For those who have seen their fair share of films, this stuff is old hat." Jeffrey Chen (Reeltalk Movie Reviews)

[edit] Soundtrack

The Soundtrack album is on Wu Music & 36 Chambers Records.

  1. "Johnny" - Rular Rah
  2. "I Love You" - Thea
  3. "Sabotage" - Maurice Featuring HottWheelz
  4. "Winston's Theme" (Orchestral) - Edward Shearmur
  5. "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" - Grayson Hill
  6. "Really Want None" - Free Murda
  7. "I'm Sorry" - Maurice
  8. "Charles' Theme" (Orchestral) - Edward Shearmur
  9. "Better Man" - Maurice
  10. "My Love" - Thea
  11. "Better Man" (Guitar Remix) - Maurice
  12. "Trouble" (Video for the song can be seen and heard playing in the background of a scene) - Pink

The track that plays during the trailer is called Offshore, by Chicane. The track at the beginning of the trailer is actually called "Breathe Me" by Sia

[edit] Remakes

The film has also been remade in two Indian languages titled Pachaikili Muthucharam (Tamil) and The Train (2007 film) (Hindi).

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=derailed.htm
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[edit] External links