28. The Commuter; movie review

THE COMMUTER
Cert 15
104 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong violence, injury detail

Is it really four years since the lamentable Taken 3? In that case we surely need another dose of Liam Neeson being a suited superhero, don't we.
Well, no, not really but here we have it anyway. With plausibility straight out of the window, The Commuter appeals to those in need of no-brain escapism.
The evidence of the numbers for our Cineworld Unlimited screening demonstrates the continued appeal of Neeson's distraction movies.
In my eyes, the big plus of The Commuter is Neeson is portraying a character who is nearly as old as he is.
It is a message to all of those with a bus pass - work out and you too can save the world.
Neeson plays Michael MacCauley a retired cop who is now in a dead-end insurance sales job to pay for his second mortgage and his son's college fees.
Every day repeats itself with the same breakfast followed by the same lift to the station and the same train ride populated by the same passengers.
But the day in which Jaume Collet-Serra's film is set is very different.
For starters, MacCauley is 'let go' from a job on which his finances are so dependent that he dare not tell his wife of his redundancy.
Then, after a drink with his old cop pal (Patrick Wilson), he boards a train and is given a lucrative offer by a complete stranger (Vera Farmiga).
The Commuter's pluses are that it uses the claustrophobia of a train journey to decent effect and neatly juxtapositions the usual monotony against the intense drama of this particular journey.
And Neeson is just fine in its lead. He can easily get away with being 60 (he is actually 65) and convincingly reflects the tension of financial pressure against ethical dilemmas.
Meanwhile, there are a couple of jumps and even two belly laughs.
On the downside, its storyline really doesn't bear too much scrutiny and its conclusion could be seen coming a good hour before the denouement.
Collet-Serra and Neeson are now regular collaborators and admit that there are similarities between The Commuter and Non-Stop which was set in a plane rather than a train.
In my review of that picture, I wrote: "Occasionally, I need to watch a movie like Non-Stop - one which is high on action and requires little brain power but isn't so daft as to be stupid."
Ditto The Commuter - but I was less in the mood to leave my intelligence at home this time

Reasons to watch: if you are a fan of the Taken-style films of Liam Neeson
Reasons to avoid: its storyline is predictable and daft

Laughs: two
Jumps: two
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 6/10

Director's quote - Jaume Collet-Serra: "The audiences really responded to that movie (Non-Stop) and we wanted to repeat the experience for them."

The big question - How old will Liam Neeson be before he stops playing action heroes and returns to movies of the quality of Schindler's List?

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