The Passenger

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!

Usual comments about Liam Neeson playing Liam Neeson again. Another one of his simple action movies etc etc. But I disagree. You know why? This man never disappoints. I have yet to see the day when I'm coming out of a cinema (or my living room) saying to myself "nahh, that was bad...". Because - even when his movies does suck, Neeson himself always brings it to the table and saves the day. Never halfa$$sed day at work. And so sympathetic it always shines through in his characters. Okay. That being said. This movie has a decent storyline. Everything's not good in it -- far from it -- but he's just bringing us to the finish line one more time and I'm amazed. The guy is 66 or 67, and looks ripped for a 35 year old. Clapping hands from Sweden!

The movie started off good, showing the daily routine, introducing the characters and setting up the mystery. The editing was interesting and even a little artsy, yet it got me hooked. I really enjoyed the first 30 minutes.

It was setting itself up to look like an intelligent mystery action. Having Neeson in this kind of movie spoils a lot, yet I thought this would be something different from his typical movies since he's getting older. I haven't seen the trailer though, just went to see the movie straight away.

After everything is set up, it just turns into a totally divorced from reality generic conspiracy action. The premise was indeed as silly as it gets. The ending was as unsurprising as possible. Omnipresent supervillains who can plan and predict everything by the smallest detail, control the situation without even being close yet fail at the most obvious things. The plot just plays itself, at times Neeson is not even doing anything to change the situation, it just changes by itself to adapt to his needs. This is not a well written movie. The ending had me saying "oh, no, you're not doing this...oh God".

Seeing Neeson perform ridiculous stunts was also a little confusing. No one should see an old man getting beaten like that. This just looks wrong.

Overall, next time I'll want to see a cop/witness drama routine, I'd better go re-watch 16 Blocks. At least it had characters instead of comic book villains.

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.

SPOILER: The Commuter delivers what it promises, a Liam Neeson action movie that relies on tension and a little bit of mystery to fill out its runtime. It begins very well with minimal exposition for the set up, using images or short conversations to explain what most movies would carve out five minutes of dialogue for. From there it evolves more like a mystery with an ordinary man in an extraordinary situation searching for someone on the train. As it enters the third act, it goes full action movie with explosions, fight scenes, and massive stakes. While this was to be expected from Jaume Collet-Serra, it undermines what had been a more contained thriller up to that point.

It is shot well enough and uses an ensemble cast well, but no one besides Liam Neeson really has too much to do. Vera Farmiga and Jonathan Banks are both talented actors that are really underutilized. All in all, The Commuter is another Liam Neeson action movie that could be best described as "Nonstop on a train."