The Commuter

NON-STOP 2. Again, initially a promisingly mysterious film, which gradually drowns in the strange behavior of probably all the characters, and which Liam Neeson probably didn't enjoy much, either. The big plus was ensured by an absolutely amazing “guitarist" brawl, whilst big minus for the digital finale that wasn't really the finale. (01/19/2018)

The Commuter is a surprisingly bad thriller (considering it promised to be the next Non-Stop), where not only is there no consistent story logic, but the fights are very digital and unrealistic, which is unacceptable in today’s filmmaking. It doesn’t work even as an entertaining genre movie, as the only things worth mentioning here are Liam Neeson and a casting inside joke for movie geeks in the form of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga from the Conjuring series. (02/07/2018)

I’m surprised that Jaume Collet-Serra keeps on choosing such bad screenplays and then he and Neeson have to hone something sort of watchable out of them. It’s basically a weaker version of Non-Stop when the beginning flirts with Hitchcock-style twist and then makes illogical detours right up to the over the top action finale. Here and there he comes out with an interesting idea, on the other hand, the whole thing seems awfully artificial and digital. Baños’s music is great, however. (04/06/2018)

The standard Liam Neeson reunites with director Jaume Collet-Serra in a suspenseful thriller that is fun to watch but unfortunately doesn't bring much new to the table. It bothers me a bit that every new Liam film, is actually exactly the same as the previous one. Non-Stop was set on a plane, The Commuter takes place on a train, and the plot is more or less similar, except that I found Non-Stop more entertaining and its denouement more surprising, whereas here I found out all too soon. Too many similarities for my taste, as if they didn't know how to handle the script. That said, the train derailment is solid and Liam still manages the smaller fights, so it's still above average, but it could have been more creative. 70% (02/08/2018)

Liam Neeson gets on the train in a pretty bad mood, and it's about to get worse when he finds out that Vera Farmiga has manipulated him into a conspiracy in which his neck is on the line. And not just him. The Commuter is a solid action flick, and exactly what you'd expect from the makers of Unknown and Non-Stop. But you can tell they're running out of ideas. It still paces pretty well and you get exactly what you expect in the cinema, but not a tad more. I quite enjoyed it, but I would have liked to see Neeson and director Jaume Collet-Serra move on to other projects and maybe even genres. They don't have much to offer here anymore. (07/26/2018)