You know, you just never know when a star's trajectory is going to take a hard left turn into something unexpected. Back in the 80's, action stars were all younger, vital, take charge and determined to push action films to the next extreme.
Such stars as Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sylvester Stallone might have done the occasional comedy or what have you, but their names soon became synonymous with a particular kind of action flick- brash, loud and in-your-face.
Now, here we are nearly three decades later, and those guys are still churning out action movies, as if the ensuing decades never happened. Sure, they've slowed their roll somewhat- save maybe Cruise- but insanely enough, few have come to challenge them in the ensuing years.
Sure, Jackie Chan, Steven Seagal, Dolph Lundgren, Jean Claude Van Damme and a few others had a good run in the 90's, and Will Smith hit the action scene in the mid-90's and pretty much owned the summer for a hot decade or so, but aside from Vin Disel, The Rock, and maybe Jason Statham, new blood was hard to come by after that. Meet the new action stars, same as the old action stars.
Not that, mind you, any of them are infallible. The last really big hit Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis had was probably The Expendables, which benefited enormously from combining the forces of several decades' worth of big action stars for one big action-palooza that was like porn for fans of that sort of thing. Needless to say, sequels followed.
In addition, each has the benefit of certain franchise to lean on in hard times, all-but-guaranteed to make a fast buck. Stallone has two, actually: Rocky and the Rambo movies- if you want to call the Rocky movies action. And, of course, Schwarzenegger has The Terminator and Willis the Die Hard series.
Meanwhile, Cruise has been leaning hard on the Mission Impossible franchise for years now, unable to launch other attempts at new ones, like the Jack Reacher films or the proposed "Dark Universe" series he took a stab at with The Mummy. But he's at least consistently successful with the MI movies.
Granted, a lot of that is because comic book/superhero movies have all but supplanted more general action movies in the ensuing years, but it's still kind of crazy that all those guys are still around, more or less, and few have come along to challenge them. Enter Liam Neeson.
Granted, a lot of that is because comic book/superhero movies have all but supplanted more general action movies in the ensuing years, but it's still kind of crazy that all those guys are still around, more or less, and few have come along to challenge them. Enter Liam Neeson.
Around about 1999, when the first of the Star Wars prequels were released, the film itself wasn't particularly well-received, but one thing most everyone agreed upon was the fact that Neeson made for a hell of a Jedi. Remarkably enough, Neeson was already pushing fifty when that film was released!
That means his big action movie breakthrough, the Taken series, came when he was firmly in his mid-fifties, which is kind of crazy. You would think that action movies would be a young man's game, and indeed, they used to be, but nowadays, younger action stars that bring in big audiences are in short supply, while the old standards still pack them in, at least to a certain extent. But how long can it last, really?
The Commuter is Neeson's latest action-oriented film, and his fourth with the talented Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra, with whom he previously made Unknown, Non-Stop and Run All Night. Serra originally hit the scene with a pair of well-liked horror cult classics, the remake of House of Wax (notable for fulfilling a generation's wish to see Paris Hilton die a grisly death, lol) and the truly bent Orphan.
After dipping a toe (or should I say a leg?) back into more horrific waters with The Shallows in 2016, Serra reunites with Neeson for this, a return to the more Hitchcockian vibes of Unknown and Non-Stop. Indeed, The Commuter is basically Non-Stop on a train rather than a plane, with a sort of Strangers on a Train-type hook.
In this case, Neeson plays an insurance salesman/former police officer who has been struggling as of late. Things hit a snag in earnest when he's laid off from his job, just as his mortgage and the tuition for his son's college is about to be due.
Suddenly, fate intervenes on his daily commute, when he is approached by a mysterious woman, Joanna, played by the Queen of oddball women, actress Vera Farmiga, who was also in Serra's Orphan. Claiming to be a human behaviorist, Joanna makes a proposal to Michael, Neeson's character: if he can figure out which passenger on the train doesn't belong, she'll give him $100,000.
To accept, all he needs to do is take an advance payment hidden on the train for $25,000. If not, no harm, no foul. If he successfully discovers the culprit, who Joanna implies has stolen something that doesn't belong to them, then he'll get the rest- but there is one catch- he has to do it by a particular stop or the bet's off.
Michael, not entirely sure if Joanna's pulling his leg or not, does take a look to see if the money's there, and indeed it is. However, it soon becomes readily apparent that the stakes are much higher than he originally expected, as a "message" is delivered to him by someone else: his wife's wedding ring. Either he completes the task or she's dead- no take backs.
Attempts to warn his wife or get outside help go nowhere or end in disaster, and after a certain point, he begins to look like the guilty one to his fellow passengers, who eventually start to fear for their lives- at least one with good reason.
As the final stop approaches, things come to a head, and Michael has to make his decision- does he give Joanna and her people what they want, or does he hold true to his morals, and risk the life of his wife- and possibly everyone on the train- to say nothing of his own?
Perhaps needless to say, Michael does try to do the right thing, but not without some unexpected wrinkles along the way, or we wouldn't have much of a movie. Action-type hi-jinks ensue, including the inevitable threat of a bomb/total derailment that could kill them all. Will Michael save the day? Have you seen any of these sorts of movies? If so, I think you know the answer to that question.
Don't get me wrong- it's an entertaining enough little movie. The action set-pieces are reasonably exciting and Neeson, as ever, acquits himself nicely, in spite of the whole inherent silliness of the whole "renegade insurance man" gambit that the film's premise rests upon.
It helps that the cast is pretty strong. In addition to Neeson and Farmiga, we also have her fellow Warren-playing cohort, Patrick Wilson, of The Conjuring movies fame, as Neeson's former partner from when he was a cop that he seeks help from on the sly; Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) as the current police captain that comes gunning for Michael; Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad) as Michael's fellow commuter that he also seeks help from; plus rising stars Shazad Latif (Star Trek: Discovery) and Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth) as other passengers/potential suspects on the train.
While the film does venture into ludicrous territory towards the end- think Speed- the mystery element is strong and helps to provide the real forward momentum the movie needs to see it through to the end, even if you figure out who the culprit is (which is to say, the identity of the "thief") and/or the big "twist" of the film, which is who is pulling the strings for all of this insanity. Hint: it's not Farmiga's character, but that almost goes without saying.
I did figure it out, on both counts, and yet, I still enjoyed the film, so there's that. It says a lot that a film is still highly engaging and fun when it hinges on a mystery element that isn't that hard to puzzle out, and that's largely a testament to the winning combination of director Serra and star Neeson, which is clearly a solid partnership that continues to reap dividends- and dockets.
Though admittedly not a runaway hit, it did earn some $116 million on a $40 million budget- not too shabby, that. Critics said it was basically Non-Stop retrofitted for a train, and that's fair, but it also sells the film a bit short, as it's more than the sum of its parts, thanks to that cast and the assured direction, as well as some solid action.
As tends to be the case with films that don't get a warm reception with critics, the audience liked it considerably better, giving it a B+ average on Rotten Tomatoes.
That's plenty enough to garner the film at the very least, rental-worthy status or an afternoon/early evening viewing on pay cable/streaming. It may be workman-like, but it's watchable enough, IMHO. And all those posters for it are very cool, I might add. (See above/below pics.)
Check it out, by all means, especially if you're a fan of Neeson and/or Serra! 😎
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