MSRP: £19.99
The Commuter Film Review
Liam Neeson's action hero swan song goes full Hitchcock, as he brings his very particular set of skills to The Commuter.
Neeson's ex-cop insurance salesman gets an unexpected surprise on his commute after having just been made redundant, bumping into Vera Farmiga's mysterious stranger, who promises him $100,000 if he finds a man on the train who has stolen something that belongs to her. Tempted by the money, his morality soon kicks in, at which point he loses the carrot and is given the stick - his wife in jeopardy - turning him desperate to solve the puzzle with lives on the line and time running out.
Infused with a pure Hitchcockian premise, The Commuter gets off to a great start (not wholly unlike Neeson's Non-Stop), building tension as his increasingly desperate everyman hero tries to get to the bottom of the mystery on the train, finding his every attempt to deviate and escape foiled by a seemingly omniscient power - Farmiga's stranger - who makes it very clear that any such attempts would be met with violence.
Running at a lean 105 minutes, The Commuter trades in healthy mystery and rampant misdirection, and whilst those familiar with the genre will likely be able to see some of the twists and turns coming, there's just about enough here to keep you engaged, with Neeson placed in increasingly precarious situations that certainly require more than their fair share of suspended disbelief, but also provide some decent entertainment, at least at a visceral level.
It's undeniably b-movie Hitchcock all the way, frequently bordering on silly but just about held together by game performances, and by a director who knows his way around a solid mystery thriller. Jaume Collet-Serra (who worked with Neeson on some of his slightly better post-Taken films, like the aforementioned Non-Stop and also Run All Night) may have turned in his most accomplished thriller with the very effective little Blake Lively shark thriller The Shallows but, apart from Unknown, his Neeson vehicles have never been less than watchable. This is no exception.
Infused with a pure Hitchcockian premise, The Commuter gets off to a great start (not wholly unlike Neeson's Non-Stop), building tension as his increasingly desperate everyman hero tries to get to the bottom of the mystery on the train, finding his every attempt to deviate and escape foiled by a seemingly omniscient power - Farmiga's stranger - who makes it very clear that any such attempts would be met with violence.
B-movie Hitchcock all the way.
Running at a lean 105 minutes, The Commuter trades in healthy mystery and rampant misdirection, and whilst those familiar with the genre will likely be able to see some of the twists and turns coming, there's just about enough here to keep you engaged, with Neeson placed in increasingly precarious situations that certainly require more than their fair share of suspended disbelief, but also provide some decent entertainment, at least at a visceral level.
It's undeniably b-movie Hitchcock all the way, frequently bordering on silly but just about held together by game performances, and by a director who knows his way around a solid mystery thriller. Jaume Collet-Serra (who worked with Neeson on some of his slightly better post-Taken films, like the aforementioned Non-Stop and also Run All Night) may have turned in his most accomplished thriller with the very effective little Blake Lively shark thriller The Shallows but, apart from Unknown, his Neeson vehicles have never been less than watchable. This is no exception.
The Commuter 4K Blu-ray Picture
The Commuter 4K Blu-ray Sound
The Commuter 4K Blu-ray Extras
Conclusion
The Commuter 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
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