The Commuter
2 stars
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Stars: Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson
Duration: 115 mins
Class: 12
KRS Releasing Ltd
Another year, yet another pedestrian action-thriller starring Liam Neeson caught up in a totally ludicrous plotline for a couple of hours of mindless entertainment. The Commuter – or Taken on a train – finds the veteran Irishman as Michael MacCauley, a happily married father of one who, just a few years short of retirement and still recovering from losses from the 2008 financial crash, is fired from his insurance job.
Unsure how to tell his wife, he is approached on the train-ride home by a mysterious woman named Joanna (Vera Farmiga) who asks him to do something for her, something ‘insignificant’ for a reward of $100,000.
Intrigued – especially after finding $25,000 in cash where she said it would be – he decides to carry out the quest, only to shortly discover that his task is deadlier than he first imagined. And, when he decides he wants to back out, it is made clear to him that his family will be in danger if he does.
This is the fourth film that Neeson has made with director Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown, Non-Stop and Run All Night if you really want to know) and the nth in a series that has the actor stretching his action muscles at this stage of his illustrious career. Clearly, they must have a superb working relationship as the script treads ground (or track, in this case) that has certainly been trodden before.
The script, by Byron Willinger and Philip de Blasi, would have us believe that MacCauley has to identify a passenger nicknamed ‘Prynne’ and get hold of the bag he or she is carrying – this, with nothing much to go on apart from his smarts.
Yet another pedestrian action-thriller
The only tid-bits we and MacCauley learn along the way is that this person is somehow linked to a suicide that happened the week before, and some very powerful people are behind it.
Yet, these powerful people, for reasons best known to themselves, would rather play this complicated, elaborate game on a train instead of just waiting for the quarry to reach his/her destination.
But plot cohesion is not on the cards and, in all fairness, it doesn’t really matter given it’s hardly rocket science to figure out who the bad guy really is. Although, what he’s done and why he’s done is it never made particularly clear. With murky information at best, MacCauley’s only hope of success is to spend the film’s entire running walking up and down the carriages eyeing everyone shiftily, although it’s not very long before people eye him back with equal suspicion.
Fans of this version of Neeson may find themselves caught up in the excitement of the story as it unfolds almost in real time. The action is rudimentary, with three or four scenes of fisticuffs in confined spaces, with occasionally random items such as a wrench or a guitar serving as weapons. There are a couple of ‘oh wow!’ heavily CG-rendered stunts underlining Neeson’s unwavering commitment to this genre to pop out.
The final scene, featuring the train inevitably going off the tracks – long after the plot has – provides the film’s best moments. A scene where MacCauley has rallied some passengers to his cause and plays out as an ode to that famous scene in Spartacus is best forgotten.
Intentionally or not, Neeson looks completely gaunt and haggard and, sad to report, he goes through the motions making little attempt to add depth or complexity to what is a very thinly-sketched role. Maybe it’s time to ditch the action stuff or, at least, find material that is well-suited to his skill set.
The supporting cast is completely wasted. Revered names such as Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Sam Neil and Elizabeth McGovern playing characters whose depth reaches no further than their descriptors (mysterious woman, best friend, former boss, wife).