Review: The Commuter

Let's not kid ourselves: The Commuter, the fourth pairing of Liam Neeson and director Jaume Collet-Serra, is not a great film. Like their previous offerings (Unknown, Non-Stop, and Run All Night), it is a predictable but sturdy and effective popcorn pleaser, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that if one knows exactly what one is getting into.

The 65-year-old Neeson plays Michael MacCauley, a former NYPD cop now working as a life insurance salesman. His life has become nothing but a monotonous grind - as evidenced by the clever opening credits sequence, which condenses a year of his life into mere minutes - but two things conspire to break his cycle of tedium. Firstly, he's unceremoniously fired from his job, which understandably deflates a guy who's five years away from retirement - after all, he's got two mortgages, a son going to college, and he and his wife Karen (Elizabeth McGovern in a blink-and-you'll-miss-her role) are basically living hand to mouth. Lest one panic, Death of a Salesman this is not since hours later, during his train commute from New York to Tarrytown, he encounters a mysterious woman Joanna (Vera Farmiga), who offers him $100K to find a person named Prynne on the train or risk the lives of his fellow passengers and family.

Unlike, say, Alfred Hitchcock, neither Collet-Serra nor the screenwriters (Byron Willinger, Philip de Blasi and Ryan Engle) are particularly fixated on the inherent morality play this scenario produces. Nor should they be - after all, viewers are here to watch Neeson take names, kick ass, and brandish his special set of skills, all of which he does satisfyingly and effectually. Collet-Serra does well to build momentum and paranoia as MacCauley realises he's involved in a vast conspiracy, and he certainly stages the climactic derailment with typical verve and vigour.

Yet the best part of The Commuter has nothing to do with fist fights in close quarters or narrowly escaping oncoming trains or Neeson go about his business. Rather it's the few minutes shared by Neeson and Farmiga as Joanna engages MacCauley in a seemingly innocuous conversation. Before all the incoherent nonsense takes over, it's highly pleasing to watch two talented actors demonstrating how two grown-ups talking can be reason enough to recommend a film.

The Commuter

Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra

Written by: Byron Willinger, Philip de Blasi, Ryan Engle

Starring: Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Sam Neill, Jonathan Banks, Elizabeth McGovern, Florence Pugh, Dean-Charles Chapman