He's right.
A morally complex if plot-wobbly thriller set on the Trans-Siberian Express as it rockets (well, creaks and groans) through snowy forests and forgotten towns, Transsiberian references The Lady Vanishes, Midnight Express, and a bunch of pics dealing with rail travel, drug smuggling, and nightmare tales of travel abroad. Alas, even Saw gets evoked in this Brad Anderson-directed suspenser: There's grisly business with Kate Mara and a hunting knife.
Jessie and Roy (an aw-shucks Woody Harrelson) have finished a teaching stint in China, and decide to take the long way home, on the legendary rail line that links east to west. Once an emblem of luxury, the train, in these post-Soviet times, has become alarmingly shoddy, but that's OK with locomotive buff Roy - even if they have to share their compartment with a pair of scruffy backpackers. Carlos (Eduardo Noriega) has tattoos and an eye for Jessie, and his girlfriend, Abby (Mara), has goth eyeliner and a disaffected air.
They also have a suspiciously heavy bag of Russian nesting dolls. How do you say heroin in Russian, anyway?
After a prologue featuring Kingsley at a creepy crime scene, Transsiberian takes off in a nicely talky fashion - as the gregarious Roy and the chain-smoking Jessie get to know Carlos and Abby, and vice versa. Though Harrelson's character never rises above the level of cartoon, Mortimer is terrific as the watchful, wary Jessie - with memories of a wild past brimming in her eyes.
"If I got rid of all my demons, I might lose my angels too," she says, when asked why she still smokes. But she's talking about other stuff, too. (And quoting Tennessee Williams in the process.)
