Year: 2018
Rated PG-13
Rating: * * Stars
Cast: Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson
It's January at the movie theaters and you know what that means. It means that it's Neeson time. Liam Neeson that is. He's the 65-year-old badass. He's the Buddha everyman. He's the AARP butt-kicker. He's well, the most reliable actor on the planet.
Neeson is perfectly cast in The Commuter despite the negative review I'm about to give it. He's an expert at playing the nice guy, retired cop whom the bad dudes choose to mess with. "Commuter" is also Liam's umpteenth showcase pic and his fourth collaboration with Spanish helmer, Jaume Collet-Serra. Neeson is Collet-Serra's unquieted muse and I liked their films Run All Night and Non-Stop. With The Commuter, they've unfortunately run into a misstep. This is an expendable, far-fetched redux that fumbles its way to a formidable "destination".
I will say this though. If you ride the Metra train to work (like my best friend does in Chi-Town), you might still think twice after getting a whiff of The Commuter's ransack, persecution complex.

Anyway, Jaume Collet-Serra is one of the most efficient, thriller directors out there. He knows how to produce beautiful, streamlined camerawork and his flicks are always tension-filled and twisty. With "Commuter" however, the execution is sloppy this time around. The obligatory tension is there but the editing and plausibility factor are hackwork at best. Also, "Commuter's" fistfight scenes are badly choreographed and its conclusion feels anti-climatic with the makings of a Hollywood cop out.

Written by Jesse Burleson
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