THE COMMUTER

NEESON IS THE COMMUTER

Film Review by FIORE

Kudos to Liam Neeson for sticking to his guns- literally.  After restimulating his career and jumping to box office stardom by starring in films that made him an action hero, Neeson alienated many of his new-found fans by going on the talk show circuit and blasting guns, gun owners and demanding more gun control laws.  Many saw this as hypocritical, much in the fashion of fellow thespian Matt Damon.  So, in his latest film, THE COMMUTER, Neeson is not a retired special ops agent, nor mercenary.  He is an insurance salesman, who happens to be an ex-cop.  He does not carry a gun, and only picks one up in this movie when absolutely necessary.  At least Neeson returned to action in a subdued manner, a man pressed by circumstances, rather than as a one man wrecking crew.

THE COMMUTER is a decent action thriller.  It’s part NON-STOP and part UNSTOPPABLE.  Neeson is an insurance salesman, who mere years before retirement, is fired.  Chagrined and defeated, he boards a train home, only to be propositioned by a mysterious woman, offering $100,000 for one simple task.  The task becomes complicated after its connections to a recent assassination are revealed.

THE COMMUTER opens with a strong scene in a bar that introduces a trio of main characters, including Neeson’s  Michael MacCaulley, Patrick Wilson as his former partner and friend Alex Murphy (notice he has the same name as Peter Weller’s title character in ROBOCOP) and Sam Neill as MacCaulley’s former boss Captain Hawthorne.  Starring with the boys are Vera Farmiga and Elizabeth McGovern.

Byron Willinger and Philip deBlasi team up for the screenplay, based on their original story.  It’s a fast moving plot, chock full of action.  The glaring hole seems to be in the technology.  If the antagonists have enough savvy to follow MacCaulley’s every move and interact with him, why in the world do they need him at all.  Seems they could eliminate their target via proxy drone.

Roque Banos, a veteran of Hispanic films, provides a heart-racing score.  Paul Cameron’s camera work deftly hides Neeson’s stunt man, and angles the action to virtual reality.  Editor Nicolas DeToth leaves one sequence in, which adds unnecessary length to THE COMMUTER.  Viewers will quickly notice a scene in which MacCaulley asks his captors to speak to his family, is awkwardly doubled.  It gives the film unneeded ten minutes.  

The entire project is headed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who, though hyphenated, is still a dreaded three-name person.  This is the second time Neeson has teamed with Collet-Serra.  The first was NON-STOP, and perhaps that is why there is a familiarity between the two films, though this one, thankfully, avoids the sanctimonious and erroneous political demagoguery the first contained. 

Save for these minor foibles, THE COMMUTER plays well in the action genre.  A good date night, or evening on the town film, be sure to see it on the big screen to gain the full effect of the train sequences.  Neeson has now done planes and trains.  I guess automobiles are next to complete the trilogy.  Certainly, no one is considering travelling in any manner with da Liam Neesons.