Commuter, The (2018) [Blu-ray]
Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller
Tagline: Every Passenger Is A Piece Of The Puzzle.
In this action-packed thriller, Liam Neeson is Michael, an insurance salesman, whose daily commute home quickly becomes anything but routine. After being confronted by a mysterious stranger (Vera Farmiga), Michael is blackmailed into finding the identity
of a passenger on his train before the last stop. As he works against the clock to solve the puzzle, Michael is unwittingly caught up in a criminal conspiracy that carries life and death stakes for himself and his fellow passengers.
Storyline: Now a hard-working life insurance salesman and a caring family man, the former police officer, Michael MacCauley, has taken the commuter rail to New York for the past ten years. But, unexpectedly, things will take a
turn for the worse, when on one of his daily journeys, the cryptic passenger, Joanna, makes Michael a generous and tempting offer to locate a single commuter or face grave consequences. Is this a sick joke, or is this indeed a serious situation? As
Michael races against the clock to solve this wicked conundrum, everyone aboard is a suspect, in a deal where there's definitely more than meets the eye. Can he decide in time who's the one? Written by Nick Riganas
Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, April 13, 2018 The Commuter is one of those films that hinges on such an almost absurd amount of coincidences and outlandish plot conceits that it may actually provoke anger
on the part of some viewers, until, that is, the typically reliable fury of Liam Neeson kicking an equally insane amount of butt in the confined space of a daily train to the suburbs provides a bit of distraction. This is a film that relies on a shadowy
conspiracy of such ubiquitous knowledge that they are able to line up a patently ridiculous amount of strategies that include not just surveilling an ex-cop named Michael McCauley (the aforementioned Liam Neeson), but then enticing him with a stash of
cash he just so happens to be deeply in need of, and then having everything so much under their shadowy control that they can instantly contact him on a stranger's cell phone when Michael's own phone is stolen (whether or not they arranged
that is never adequately explained), not to mention more or less instantly killing several characters who either depart the train or who actually stay on it. And yet, for all their obvious octopus tentacle like reach into seemingly every area of
this film's characters and subtext, they're not able to successfully identify and take out another passenger on the train, which is what that huge stash of cash is intended to persuade Michael to do for them. It's just "eye rolling" territory after a
while, and relies on such an astounding amount of suspension of disbelief that the film may actually ultimately be enjoyed as a kind of unintentional comedy.
The Commuter reunites Neeson with director Jaume Collet-Serra, with whom Neeson has also made Unknown, Non-Stop, and Run All Night. While The Commuter bears a number of probably too close for comfort similarities to
Non-Stop (a harried "everyman" on a vehicle seemingly randomly contacted to achieve a certain result), all of the previous Neeson — Collet-Serra collaborations actually may provide a bit of insight into some of this particular film's issues, at
least as evidenced by some deliciously snarky pull quotes from my colleague Ken Brown's reviews of those previous three films:
Unknown is a plot twist wrapped inside of a riddle slathered in complete and utter implausibility. It creeps and stalls, lurches and lunges, shrugging off any and every glaring plot hole that might put another thriller out of its misery. And just
when things can't get any more convoluted (or any more reminiscent of Roman Polanski's Frantic), it takes a sharp right at [spoiler], jams its foot on the action-accelerator and never looks back. Come to think of it, Unknown stitches
together the remains of at least seven different films, making it as derivative as it is cumbersome and as predictable as it is uneven.
"Thrilling and intense," screams Non-Stop's cover art. "A taught, suspenseful thriller in the vein of Hitchcock," raves a random Midwestern critic trying much too hard to achieve poster-quote fame. Adding, "with an ending you won't see coming!" Is
Jaume Collet-Serra's Non- Stop thrilling? Sure. Intense? You bet. Suspenseful? Absolutely. Hitchcockian? In many ways, yes. Strands of its DNA are ripped straight from the Master of Suspense and, for a while, it sorta, kinda, almost works.
(Squinting and staring at the script sideways helps too.) Stop, pause or take a breath, though, and it all starts to unravel. And good God, don't for a second actually devote any thought to anything that happens on screen.
Yet another misfire in an extended mag of generic geriatric action flicks starring the always irresistible Liam Neeson (who hasn't really killed it since The Grey), Jaume Collet-Serra's Run All Night is best approached with the lowest of
expectations.
The Commuter actually seems to want to offer some bona fide "philosophy" at times, beginning with a rather nicely done montage that clearly documents the grind of daily life that Michael experiences, something that is in fact almost like a
"real life" Groundhog Day. And the film returns over and over again to an underlying idea of people trapped by their supposed careers, doing time (in every sense) until they manage to "escape" — by dying (as one supporting cast alludes to). And
then there's the whole (again, patently ridiculous) plot point of Michael suddenly getting approached by an enigmatic woman named Joanna (Vera Farmiga), who (supposedly "hypothetically") informs Michael there's a cool 25K in cash stashed in a nearby
restroom that is Michael's if he manages to find a certain individual and then "mark" that person, who will be dealt with later in ways that aren't instantly clear. (Nothing is overly clear in this film, just to be fair.)
It's almost pointless to document the gaping plot holes running rampant throughout The Commuter, because whether or not this film works for any given viewer is going depend almost totally on whether the viewer simply doesn't care about those
gaping plot holes. The film careens through a number of elements (including a suspected kidnapping of Michael's wife, played by a sadly underutilized Elizabeth McGovern), until it ends with a series of deadly showdowns that include a number of hand to
hand combat scenes, as well as a train derailment and other mayhem. When another supporting character turns out to be the lynchpin around which everything revolves, eye rolling may ultimately turn into remote control throwing, or some similar sign of
audience frustration.
Despite a plot that almost invites disparagement, The Commuter at least has a certain claustrophobic style, one emphasized by Collet- Serra and cinematographer Paul Cameron with some really nicely done interior shots (a brief supplement adorning
this Blu-ray release shows the exclusive rig that was constructed for some of these shots). And Neeson of course is appropriately intense as yet another character with a seemingly perfect "particular set of skills". It's unfortunate that those skills are
put in service of such a ludicrous journey.
The Commuter is ultimately so relentlessly silly that its high octane thriller elements are repeatedly undercut. Still, for those looking for an undemanding adrenaline rush, The Commuter will probably suffice handily enough. For those so
interested, this Blu-ray offers top notch technical merits.
[CSW] -2.8- A completely unbelievable premise, but a fairly enjoyable ninety minutes or so. Liam Neeson is a bit past his prime to carry this sort of thing anymore, but he fits the age of the character and manages to pull out just one more action
thriller. I will admit that the outlandish plot had me sucked in. I was waiting for the next clue or twist and how our hero would react. Unfortunately, as is the case with most modern action films, it goes wildly off the rails (no pun intended) in the
last 20 minutes. The fun of the mystery is gone and the audience has to sit through explosions, gun fire, fist fights and truly unnecessary spectacle. That kept me from adding the extra star. All in all, the audience gets what it expects. That's saying
something right there.
[V4.5-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box enhanced this movie.
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