THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN (15, 112 mins) Thriller/Romance/Action. Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett, Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Edgar Ramirez, Allison Janney, Laura Prepon. Director: Tate Taylor.

Released: October 5 (UK & Ireland)

Published last year, Zimbabwean-born author Paula Hawkins' novel The Girl On The Train has become a literary sensation, selling in excess of 11 million copies worldwide.

As with Gone Girl, another taut thriller with a gasp-out-loud narrative twist, Hollywood came a-knocking.

Tate Taylor, director of the Oscar-winning civil rights drama The Help, was duly hired to shunt the book's setting from London to New York for this glossy film adaptation.

Erin Cressida Wilson's assured script retains a similar structure to the book, exploring tangled themes of motherhood, revenge and betrayal through the eyes of three women, who are unwittingly trapped in cycles of violence.

Using on-screen title cards to chart the fractured chronology, the film shifts perspectives between these flawed yet resourceful protagonists, while attempting to pull the wool over our eyes.

It's an entertaining though not exactly pulse-quickening ride.

All aboard...

Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt) has self-imploded following an acrimonious divorce from her cheating husband, Tom (Justin Theroux).

When she wakes from her drunken stupors, Rachel has alarming gaps in her memory and, on one occasion, she is covered in bruises and blood.

As a result of her intoxication, Rachel loses her job at a PR firm, which she conceals from her roommate Cathy (Laura Prepon) by taking her usual train each morning and sitting in the park with a bottle of spirits.

The journey takes her past her old house where Tom is now happily settled with his mistress Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) and their baby.

The tracks also pass by the residence of neighbours Scott (Luke Evans) and Megan Hipwell (Haley Bennett), and Rachel fantasizes about the couple's seemingly perfect relationship.

One morning, Rachel stares bleary-eyed out of the train window and glimpses Megan in a clinch with another man.

Megan subsequently vanishes and Detective Sergeant Riley (Allison Janney) becomes interested in Rachel's hazy recollection, especially since the drunkard has no alibi for the hours leading up to Megan's disappearance.

Perhaps psychiatrist Dr Kamal Abdic (Edgar Ramirez) can help Rachel to unlock her subconscious.

She will soon realise that some memories are best forgotten.

The Girl On The Train is a smart psychological potboiler anchored by a strong performance from Blunt as a self-destructive woman, who is figuratively going off the rails in her darkest hour.

Unreliable narrators are far more tantalizing on the page than the big screen, and there are a couple of pivotal moments in Taylor's film, which tip the wink too early to characters' dark ulterior motives and personal ties.

Nevertheless, the picture chugs briskly down various dramatic sidings before arriving at a messy final reckoning that satisfies rather than surprises.

:: SWEARING :: SEX :: VIOLENCE :: RATING: 6/10

WAR ON EVERYONE (15, 98 mins) Comedy/Drama/Romance/Action. Michael Pena, Alexander Skarsgard, Theo James, Caleb Landry Jones, Stephanie Sigman, Tessa Thompson, Paul Reiser, Malcolm Barrett, Zion Leyba. Director: John Michael McDonagh.

Released: October 7 (UK & Ireland)

London-born filmmaker John Michael McDonagh has nurtured an exceedingly healthy disregard for authority.

In his 2011 directorial debut, The Guard, he went on patrol with a foul-mouthed Garda sergeant played by Brendan Gleeson, whose moral compass didn't preclude drugs, drink and working girls on duty.

The blackly comic follow-up, Calvary, prayed with a discombobulated parish priest (Gleeson again), who is forced to atone for the monstrous sins of another man of the Catholic Church.

McDonagh's enviable skill at combining jet-black humour with shocking violence is in evidence in War On Everyone, a fast-paced caper in the company of two New Mexico cops, who gleefully bend the law they have been sworn to protect.

On the surface, this third film is a glossy update of the writer-director's first, albeit with a swinging 1970s vibe and a soundtrack laden with the greatest hits of country music idol Glen Campbell.

The script is blessed with cracking one-liners, and Michael Pena and Alexander Skarsgard deliver committed performances as police officers who agree to look the other way if the criminal fraternity lines their pockets.

However, this feels like a side-step for McDonagh and a protracted sequence shot on location in Iceland seems to belong to an entirely different film.

Officer Terry Monroe (Skarsgard) and his partner Bob Bolano (Pena) protect their own interests with a flash of their police badges.

"Like I always say, 'If it ain't broke, break it'," grins Terry before they embark on one destructive rampage.

Lieutenant Gerry Stanton (Paul Reiser) issues his men with a final warning before they head out on surveillance and learn that Lord James Mangan (Theo James) and his sidekick Birdwell (Caleb Landry Jones) are plotting a bank robbery.

Terry and Bob glean more details from informant Reggie (Malcolm Barrett) and allow the heist to take place with the intention of pocketing the ill-gotten profits themselves.

However, Lord Mangan is no pushover and he threatens Terry's girlfriend Jackie (Tessa Thompson) and Bob's wife Delores (Stephanie Sigman).

Emboldened by booze or a line of cocaine, Terry and Bob prepare to do their duties to maintain a semblance of order on the streets of Albuquerque.

War On Everyone is a rumbustious and politically incorrect romp that is disappointingly light on substance.

The two lead actors look like they are having a blast and their giddiness is infectious.

Co-star James doesn't have to break sweat as the film's sleazy antagonist and he comes off second best in the battle of the topless hunks next to Skarsgard, who spends one throwaway scene posing in his pants.

The tone of McDonagh's script changes abruptly in a disturbing final act that delves into the horrific backstory of a timid boy (Zion Leyba).

Behind the mask of comedy, tragedy has a rictus grin.

:: SWEARING :: SEX :: VIOLENCE :: RATING: 5.5/10