The Commuter *** (2018, Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Sam Neill, Elizabeth McGovern, Jonathan Banks) – Movie Review

Liam Neeson is in his element in director Jaume Collet-Serra’s good old-style fun mystery crime thriller flick along Murder on the Orient Express lines, but with some added high-octane action, plus a slick production.

I’m a sucker for Hitchcockian movies set on trains  – they are virtually infallible – and this one is good but not quite as good as Collet-Serra’s last film with Neeson, Non-Stop (2014).

Neeson plays just-fired Irish American businessman Michael MacCauley, who is approached by a strange but plausible woman calling herself Joanna (Vera Farmiga, excellent) during his daily commute home and finds himself caught up in some kind of bizarre, lethal criminal conspiracy. One of his fellow passengers is out of place on the train. He can pick up needed cash if he can pick out which one before the train arrives at its destination.

Liam Neeson plays just-fired Irish American businessman Michael MacCauley.

Patrick Wilson, Sam Neill, Elizabeth McGovern, Jonathan Banks all help the movie along the right lines too, though, like Farmiga, they could do with a lot more to do. The movie is a vehicle for Neeson – and it is all Neeson.

The script by Byron Willinger Philip de Blasi and Ryan Engle doesn’t really ever have much credibility, though that’s OK because it is only a movie, Ingrid. But the trick to make it work is that everybody must act as though it does – and, hey, they do! Neeson acts like his life depends on it, which is exactly what he’s supposed to be doing. He’s a big asset, no doubt. Imagine, for example, if Steven Segal or Sylvester Stallone were starring.

Mixing in a Die Hard scenario to the Hitchcock Strangers on a Train-style thriller, the added high-octane action, when it comes in the film’s last act, may well be exciting, but it takes a further huge toll on credibility. Neeson ends up making like an action hero, and the train is afflicted by a bad case of CGI-itis, none of which is really the point.

Kept small and taut and classy, this could have been really great, rather than just an entertaining popcorn movie time-passer. But, anyway, for that, considerable thanks.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Movie Review

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