Review of The Commuter (2018) by Dave M — 28 Jan 2018

"The Commuter" (PG-13, 1:44) reunites Liam Neeson with his "Non-Stop" (2014) director, Jaume Collet-Serra (who also directed Neeson in the underrated 2015 "Run All Night") for another action crime drama set in a confined space.

Neeson plays Michael MacCauley, a former NYC cop turned insurance salesman. Michael is having a really bad day which only gets worse when he's chatted up on his commuter train by a woman calling herself Joanna (Vera Farmiga), who at first just seems annoying, but turns out to be pretty deadly.

Joanna seems to have targeted Michael for a job requiring his particular set of skills. She wants him to use his experience as a former cop to suss out the identity of a unspecified person on the train with an unspecified bag whose unspecified contents are very important to some unspecified (but obviously very powerful) people.

Joanna offers the cash-strapped Michael $100,000 ($25,000 up front) to find the person she's looking for - and threatens the lives of his wife and son if he doesn't comply before the train reaches.

.. the end of the line. (And she also seems able to monitor all of his activities on the train and doesn't mind offing innocent people to make a point.) It's always fun to watch Neeson try to work his way out of such predicaments - and the combination of Neeson and Collet-Serra again delivers a thrilling, action-packed mystery - with an especially good cast and creative camera work.

"A-".