*Originally written January 31st, 2017*
For better or worse, The Commuter is exactly what you'd expect from a Liam Neeson action-thriller directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Their previous collaborations Unknown, Non-Stop and Run All Night have all been perfectly serviceable genre films that entertain and deliver exactly what they're meant to, which is not a bad thing. The Commuter is a blast.
Liam Neeson plays an ex-cop shoved in an extreme situation involving his daily commute on the train. After a woman offers him a large some of money to point out who on the train doesn't belong, he's pitted in a conspiracy with twists and turns that just don't stop till the end.
This is hardly high-art, it's essentially fast-food cinema, you enjoy it a hell of a lot, but you feel it dumbs you down. There are obvious comparisons to a previous film Neeson and this director did, this is pretty much Non-Stop, but on a train. Collet-Serra has definitely improved as a director with each film he's done with Neeson. While Run All Night is probably my favourite of their films, this is a close second.
It opens with a really cool and visually interesting montage of Neeson's daily routine done in a very impressive style. It's much more than I expected from a film like this. It sets everything all up very well, Neeson noticing the regular commuters before things kick-in, building his motivation to take the money and go along with the offer. It all works.
There are extreme lacks in logic, as one would expect and the film very literally goes off the rails in the final act, but I'd be lying if I couldn't overlook these things, as I was having so much fun with it. The twists are mostly obvious and telegraphed very early, that said, I was still very much into the mystery and got wrapped up in the whole thing. There is some some very awful dialogue here and there, to the point where I laughed out loud at the cheesiness of it all and Patrick Wilson's character is named 'Alex Murphy' for some reason and he doesn't even turn out to be Robocop.
Even at the age of 65, Neeson still kicks ass in a lot of great action scenes littered throughout. The action is pretty quick and brutal, edited nicely and packs a punch. A far cry from the incoherent mess of Taken 3's choppy action. I feel I need to mention Liam Neeson smashes a man's head with a guitar. What more could you want?
The Commuter is exactly what you'd want and expect from a Liam Neeson action film, which is no bad thing. Whether you're laughing with it or at it, there is so much fun to be had with this. I hope Collet-Serra and Neeson continue to work together for a long time.
7/10 Dans
The Commuter is out now in cinemas in the UK
Watch the trailer below:
Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews and @ArronRoke91
Instagram: @thesurprisingadventuresofdanb and @ArronRoke
YouTube: Figment Reviews
Letterboxd: Dan and Arron
No comments:
Post a Comment