Review:
"The Commuter"
Release Date: Jan. 12, 2018
Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 105 minutes By land, by sea, by air—no matter where he is, Liam Neeson shall wage war against the forces of evil with all his might. Emerging late in life as the action hero we never knew we needed, Neeson completes his unofficial trilogy of transport-related thrillers that began unintentionally with Battleship and continued with Nonstop with The Commuter. This is murder on the Metro-North Railroad. But Neeson’s insurance agent isn’t Hercule Poirot, and he’s not put in a position to solve a crime but to possibly commit one for a small fortune. The Commuter reunites Neeson with his Unknown, Non-Stop and Run All Night director Jaume Collet-Serra, who not only knows how to play to Neeson’s strengths but also is most reliable when it comes to crafting compelling mysteries that pits Collet-Serra’s trapped protagonists against a ticking clock. In many ways, The Commuter is a de facto remake of Non-Stop. Except Neeson is stuck on a train—instead of being up in the air—as he tries to stop something terrible from happening to all around him. The Commuter does distinguish itself from Non-Stop by making Neeson a victim of his own circumstances. He could easily walk away from an out-of-the-blue $100,000 offer to identify and tag a passenger on the train he takes home every evening from New York City to his nice suburban home. But Neeson has just lost his job, and he needs the money for his family. He knows each and every commuter by name or by face. And, being, an ex-cop, he’s in possession of the particular set of skills that is required to isolate his quarry from the other daytrippers on the train. Collet-Serra squeezes as much tension as possible from a noticeably haggard Neeson’s exhausting efforts to identify the passenger. He does a masterful job of keeping the passenger’s identity—as well as those involved with shady Vera Farmiga in the conspiracy—a secret until The Commuter regrettably goes off the rails minutes into the final act. As Murder on the Orient Express proved, you don’t need a climax involving death and destruction to wrap up a juicy mystery. Despite the presence of Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Elizabeth McGovern, and Sam Neill, The Commuter is very much a one-man show. Now 65 years old, Neeson seems less indomitable than he did in Taken. Collet-Serra senses this and ensures The Commuter relies more on Neeson’s wits than brawn. Not that this stops Collet-Serra from putting Neeson in the middle of a brawl or two. As a financially strapped suburbanite under severe pressure to produce results, Neeson grapples earnestly with the long and lasting implications of his ethical breach. The man must live the rest of his life with innocent blood on his hands. But The Commuter does itself a disservice by forcing Neeson to make a swift decision about the moral quandary he put himself when he accepts the money from a complete stranger. Collet-Serra would have lent additional intrigue to The Commuter had Neeson played along for an extended period of time before realizing the deadly consequences of his actions. As it is, The Commuter does offer enough compelling reasons to persuade us to take this ride with Neeson. Robert Sims Aired: Jan. 11, 2018 Web site: https://www.thecommuter.movie |
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