Review of The Commuter (2018) by Rebecca31 — 21 Jan 2018

Liam Neeson is no stranger to these generic popcorn flicks, in fact that's pretty much all he can do now and at his age that's more than surprising. Every now and again you'll get a dud, and well The Commuter is a giant dud. Settle down for nearly two hours of Liam Neeson sitting on a train, Liam Neeson stressfully pacing up and down the train, Liam Neeson glaring suspiciously at every other person on the train and Liam Neeson beating everyone to a bloody pulp on the train. I never expected anything special but I wasn't prepared for boredom.

Liam Neeson is an insurance salesman who lives a rather mundane life, travelling on the same commuter train at the same time every day. Times are tough and money is tight so when he is approached by a random women (Vera Farmiga) offering him a substantial amount of money to take part in this apparent hypothetical situation to find the person on the train who "does not belong" he can't help but seize this opportunity. So why approach Liam Neeson? Well he needs the money, and he's an ex-cop conveniently so I guess you could say he has a special set of skills that make him appropriate for the job. Find the person on the train, carrying a bag and getting off at the end of the line. Not much to go on, but he's Liam Neeson, no ordinary guy so if anyone can do it Liam can. I understand that a lot of scenes might have been going for the claustrophobic atmosphere but honestly there was so much shaky camera work in The Commuter I was starting to get dizzy. The fight scenes are atrocious even for this kind of movie, it's very difficult to see who's punching who. Honestly there came a point when I stopped caring, but if you've managed not to fall asleep then you might actually get a laugh out of them. Maybe you've always wanted to see Liam Neeson beat someone half to death with a guitar. I genuinely believe the third act of this film is meant to be a comedy it's that ridiculous. There's one scene in particular that I can't mention for spoiler reasons, but believe me you'll know it when you see it. Liam Neeson has long since stopped caring about these movies, they're simply pay cheque performances, so if you're expecting the standard of Taken don't because The Commuter is so generic and predictable you'll be fighting off sleep. I felt stupid watching The Commuter, and I felt stupid wasting time on it, so save yourselves and give this one a miss. Not recommended unless you really enjoy these Liam Neeson action flicks, in that case enjoy.