The Commuter

Official Australian release date: 18/1/18. Viewed: 15/1/18.

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

Actors: Liam Neeson, Vera Famiga, Patrick Wilson, Sam Neill

Genre: Action/Drama

Rating: M

  

‘The Commuter’ is the 4^th film directed by Collet-Serra starring Liam Neeson – and it’s better than ‘Non-Stop’ (the one on a plane), but not quite as good as ‘Unknown’ (the amnesia one). Neeson is struggling to pull off looking even 60 (dyed hair doesn’t hide it), but luckily there isn’t as many stunts as ‘Taken’ here. Michael (Neeson) is an ex-cop who now sells life insurance – why’d he leave the force? Don’t know. He does, however, commute into New York City via train every day.

The first 30min is quite slow & scene setting (Wilson as his ex-partner, Neill as police captain, Banks as fellow train-buddy), before Joanna (Farmiga) sets a mystery in motion that slowly reveals itself. The film slowly picks up pace as more clues are revealed and the body count slowly, but almost plausibly rises (six in total, I think). There’s a stand-off at the end, but it’s still all over in 100min.

I think because my expectations were so low, I enjoyed this more than I might otherwise have. The tension is built quite well, the score’s good, the fight scenes are (mostly) realistic and the story, while far-fetched, is not totally unbelievable – some of the stunts are, but that’s to be expected. Certainly nothing new or revolutionary, but an enjoyable action/thriller that doesn’t outstay it’s welcome.

Overall: Better than I expected!

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.