The Commuter

The Commuter (2018)

56% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 99 reviews)

Runtime: 104 minutes

Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra

Starring: Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Jonathan Banks, Sam Neill

From: Lionsgate/Studio Canal

NOTE: I do not know how often I will be doing reviews the next few days; my laptop is “on the fritz”, in this case meaning “the cooling fan is not working properly.” It will be taken in for repair but who knows how long that will take.

What a movie to see as my first 2018 release... eventually I'll see some of the better pictures out now but on a whim I hoped this would be OK, and it was... although at times it was stump-dumb and you don't want to think too much about this ridiculous plot. Then again I expected the plot to be rather outlandish so I guess that's why I am not too mad at the film. I hadn't seen Nonstop or Unknown but I did see Run All Night, so now it's two out of the four Jaume Collet-Serra/Liam Neeson collaborations.

This is a typical movie involving the director and star... yep, a paranoid conspiracy thriller with some action elements. In this case, Neeson is Michael MacCauley, who has had a job in insurance for years; he's a typical family man who has a wife and teenage son about to go to college. Even he was hit hard by the 2008 recession, and the movie has incredibly unsubtle jabs about that. Anyhow, Vera Farmiga approaches him on the train after he had a bad day and he was asked to do something drastic, which leads to a kind of story you don't want to spend too much time thinking about.

Maybe I am being overly kind to this nonsense. Then again, at least the movie moves at a brisk pace, has a nice cast, there are some laughs, and most of the action scenes are acceptable. Plus, the opening credits was nicely done as it showed Neeson's family life through the years and said a lot in a few minutes. On the other hand, I won't say if I am being literal or figurative here when I say it goes off the rails a bit in the final act, but it's true... the final act has some moments, including one ripped off from a Kubrick movie. In context it is not a bad scene as it relates to the plot but some will groan because it was “heavily inspired” by a famous film moment.


In conclusion, even if this sounds interesting for you, you may be better off waiting until Redbox or VOD to check this out.