After being confronted by a mysterious stranger, he is blackmailed into finding the identity of a fellow passenger before the last stop. Not that Neeson’s character, Michael, spends much time gazing out the window. “It is a very beautiful route going from Grand Central through Harlem and up the Hudson River.” “Liam has taken that train literally hundreds of times, and he loves it,” Collet-Serra tells The Post. He regularly uses it to travel upstate to his country home in Millbrook, NY (although, sadly, I’ve never sat next to him). It’s the exact same train I take to my sleepy suburb of Irvington, NY - although it actually terminates at Croton-Harmon - and, boy, does my journey seem dull compared to the murder and mayhem unfolding in the flick.ĭirector Jaume Collet-Serra partly chose this particular line because of Neeson’s “attachment” to the route. In his latest movie, “The Commuter” (out Friday), the 65-year-old action star stares death in the face aboard the 6:25 p.m. Lionsgate releases The Commuter on January 12, 2018.The Winter of Hell might be fully upon us, with subway and train delays due to the big freeze and work on the tracks - but at least your evening commute is nothing like Liam Neeson’s. Combined with the efforts of production designer Richard Bridgland, the lighting feels authentic.Ī film that is easily interchangeable with any Liam Neeson vehicle, The Commuter is a forgettable January thriller. The camerawork from cinematographer Paul Cameron becomes a character in its own right. Told in real time from Michael’s point of view, the thrills are never-ending as fast-paced Hitchkockian-esque thriller heads towards a climax, including a few fights and a visual effects sequence with the train. While the roles may be smaller, everyone is a possible suspect. Taking place in a commuter train, one thing that the film does get right is diversity in casting. Lady MacBeth star Florence Pugh delivers a performance that’s highly unrecognizable as college student Gwen but the actress is certainly a star on the rise. They were partners on the force and Murphy’s always had his back and it’s Murphy who tells Michael to inform his wife that he lost his job. Alex Murphy (Patrick Wilson), on the police force. A former cop, Michael is able to borrow a phone and get ahold of his friend, Lt. There’s no reason on earth for someone to blackmail him so there’s got to be a situation playing out behind the scenes. It’s a Neeson vehicle so this doesn’t really come as any type of surprise. He’s an ordinary man who happens to find himself in an unfortunate circumstance. Tt’s life or death, not only for him, but the rest of the passengers. One thing leads to another and Michael quickly finds himself blackmailed and hopes to find this suspicious passenger before the train reaches the end of the line. It’s on the ride home where Joanna (Vera Farmiga), a mysterious woman on the train, plays philosopher and asks Michael one simple question: “Would you do one tiny, little thing for $100,000?” Telling him that she studies human behavior, she wants to know what he would do if someone offered him a very high financial reward for finding someone on the train with a bag that contains stolen property. On the same day after he loses his job, Michael takes the train home as he always does.
It’s on the train where Michael makes friends with the regulars on the train, including Walt (Jonathan Banks) and Tony (Andy Nyman).
He lives at home with his wife, Karen, (Elizabeth McGovern), and son, Danny (Dean-Charles Chapman). He’s the typical New Yorker with the routine commute from his home outside of New York City to the office in midtown Manhattan, where he works as an insurance salesman. Regardless, Taken on a train isn’t the wisest idea because the franchise has been overdone. It’s almost as if it’s Taken meets Strangers on the Train. The script has the potential to be so much more, such as a Hitchcockian thriller on the train, but it only turns into a missed opportunity. Teaming up for the fourth time with the action star, Jaume Collet-Serra directs from a screenplay written by Byron Willinger, Philip de Blasi and Ryan Engle. The Commuter is a wildly predictable Liam Neeson vehicle that falls short of Hitchcockian standards for action thrillers.