El pasajero

My wife and I watched this movie at home on DVD from our public library. It is the right length, just over 90 minutes, and kept our interest the whole.

Yet this is a throw-away movie, the story is highly contrived to create suspense. For example he is told to look for a passenger "who doesn't belong" yet the people manipulating him know exactly who the passenger is.

My other issue with it are the fights, hand-to-hand combat in a moving train, they are shown to hit each other so hard, sometimes with devices (guitar!) that would kill them yet they recover very quickly. It definitely subtracts from the believability.

Yet overall I found it suitable entertainment because I like Liam Neeson, he is perfect for this type of role. He is Michael MacCauley, an insurance salesman, who commutes by train along the Hudson River and into NYC each day. After 10 years he pretty well knows all the usual commuters. But this day he is laid off, he has two mortgages, his son is about to start college, so when he is tempted with $100,000 cash to perform a task it gives him the motive to accept it. As a former cop he has the investigative instincts.

The DVD extras are interesting, except for brief NYC scenes the whole movie was shot on sets at Pinewood Studios in England. They say 90% of the actors are British but I didn't try to verify that number.

Fun popcorn flick with Liam Neeson giving it his all as usual. Here's hoping we can see Liam Neeson be the right guy in the wrong place at the wrong time on a boat to complete the Liam Neeson transportation trifecta. LIAM NEESON WINS AT TRAVELING!

If you've seen one Neeson film, you've probably seen them all. Despite having already mastered the art of playing the grizzled, independant tough-guy, Neeson is back with The Commuter, in which he plays an unsuspecting ... well ... commuter, who is drawn into a criminal conspiracy which could kill everyone on-board.

It's a familiar sounding plot, but it's one that Neeson excels in, in fact, he may be too good at it by now. With all that said, The Commuter, much like Taken, Taken 2, Taken 3, Non-Stop, A Walk Among the Tombstones, Run All Night and Schindlers List, is another fun Neeson film which you'll probably enjoy much more than you'd be willing to admit.

I admit that Neeson's films are a bit formulaic, but it can still be a fun time to while away some time. He certainly doesn't break any new ground and his nemesis doesn't break much ground, either.

Perhaps someone can clear something up for me regarding normal MTA -vs- commuter rail. Is it safe to assume that a commuter rail train leaving Penn Station would not be stopping at MTA stops in Manhattan? I'm not even from NYC, but I was fairly certain commuter rail lines wouldn't have their first stop until they were at least out of Manhattan. That really bugged me in this move.

There are certain actors in Hollywood that are so one-dimensional, but they play that one-dimension spot on. Liam Neeson is one of those guys. Another example is Jason Statham. Their roles are all the same, scripts slightly tweaked, yet the movie passes of as decent-to-good almost every time (except for the Taken sequels, but that isn't on Liam).

Bottom line is, it's basically the movie non-stop, but on a commute instead of a plane. Liam Neeson plasy his same old self and plays his usual one-dimensional badass role. He did his job once again. This movie will bring in okay-enough numbers, and we will be presented with Liam Neeson's next challenge in about another year.

Same old, decent-enough action movie.

6/10