the commuter movie review

The Commuter

Frustratingly not-quite-there from start to finish, the paranoia-soaked railroad thriller “The Commuter” is the latest installment in the unofficial “ Liam Neeson Late Winter Butt Kickers” series. The LNLWBKs started in January 2009, with the surprise smash “ Taken ,” and continued with more “Taken” movies, plus three Neeson adventures by Jaume Collet-Serra , the director of this new one (“ Unknown ,” “ Non-Stop ” and “ Run All Night ” were the others). They’re a staple of our moviegoing diet by this point, nearly as ingrained in the seasonal calendar as the holidays themselves. Like nearly every entry, this new one is worth seeing for the unfussy determination of Neeson, a couple of impressively choreographed action sequences (in particular a one-take, hand-to-hand fight that attempts to one-up the famous hammer sequence in “Oldboy”), and an intriguing premise that the filmmakers never manage to fully exploit. By “worth seeing,” I don’t necessarily mean “rush to the nearest theater, forsaking all else,” but rather, “if this comes on TV, you’ll probably watch the whole thing, as long as you’re not in a hurry to be somewhere.” Who knows, it might even be ideal train viewing. The plot has all the hallmarks of a daydream that got obsessively worked-over for years during somebody’s daily rides to and from work.

Neeson’s character, Michael MacCauley, is a 60-year-old ex-cop turned insurance salesman who works in midtown Manhattan. His boss tells him that he’s being fired right when he’s about to begin his return trip home to see his wife ( Elizabeth McGovern , who deserves better than this) and college-aged son ( Dean-Charles Chapman ) in Westchester, Long Island. Michael loses his phone in the train station due to a pickpocket he doesn’t realize bumped him on purpose, then meets a mysterious stranger ( Vera Farmiga ) who tells him he has to locate a certan passenger on the commuter train before it arrives at its final stop and plant a tracking device on him/her, at which point that person will be killed. Michael will get $25,000 up front and another $75,000 upon completion of the mission—enough to offset the economic havoc wrought by his firing, including the potential scuttling of a reverse-mortgage on the family home that would’ve paid for his son’s college.

This is one of those moral conundrums that really only generates suspense if you believe that a working class hero who radiates decency would condemn another person to death for $100,000. Nevertheless, Neeson goes the extra kilometer trying to sell us on the character’s economic desperation as well as his macho pride (Michael couldn’t bring himself to tell his wife and kids that he just got fired, so there’s pressure to make this right immediately so he’ll never have to spill the truth).

Director Collet-Serra, who did the mostly terrific shark thriller “ The Shallows ” and seems to have a knack for stripped-down, goal-directed action flicks, has clearly absorbed Alfred Hitchcock films where the action occurs on the boundary separating the real from the metaphorical or dreamlike. The kaleidoscope of humanity that Michael meets on the train is a touch of “ Rear Window ,” the arrangement between him and Farmiga’s character is a faint echo of “ Strangers on a Train ,” and there’s a hint of “North by Northwest” in the notion of a (mostly) ordinary New Yorker getting pulled into a conspiracy and struggling to regain control over his life. In the end, though, this is a tweedy suburban version of a confined-space action flick. Michael is on his own the whole time. Any allies he picks up along the way are temporary, and not all can be trusted.

The class-warfare, eat-the-rich messaging feels rather slapped-on, though, and the movie never gets close to generating the political framework it would have needed to to be taken seriously as a parable of this or that, as opposed to yet another movie where Liam Neeson beats people up. It should be assumed that there are no extraneous scenes in a film like this—by which I mean that, if you meet Michael’s ex-partner ( Patrick Wilson ) and their former supervisor ( Sam Neill ) early in the story, and get a couple of moments where Michael talks about the economic collapse of 2008, and a scene that ends with Michael giving the finger to a jerkbag of a stockbroker, and one where Michael looks up from a bar to see a TV news story about officials being arrested on corruption charges, you can bet it will all come together in the end, haphazardly. No one involved in the production seemed to think we’d care about clarity when it came to stuff like this. They weren’t entirely wrong, but the articulation is still wanting: why even do this kind of politically allegorical action picture if you’re not going to, y’know, really do it? Like, with feeling?

I did care very much about Neeson’s character, though, thanks mainly to his mastery “just say your lines and hit your marks” acting. No matter who he’s playing in these movies, Neeson always attacks the problem at hand with the low-key focus of a guy trying to open a stuck jar of jam. It’s my considered opinion that Neeson’s late-career brand of business class dad machismo has yet to meet a director that can fully do it justice, but reasonable minds may differ. In any case, it’s doubtful anyone will be debating the fine points of his late-career filmography when Michael is hanging underneath a moving train like Indiana Jones, or breaking the little glass box at the end of a car so that he can use the hammer on someone’s skull.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor-at-Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

• Byron Willinger
• Philip de Blasi

Writer (story by)

• Jaume Collet-Serra
• Nicolas De Toth

Cinematographer

• Paul Cameron
• Roque Baños

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‘the commuter’: film review.

Liam Neeson and director Jaume Collet-Serra team up for the fourth time in 'The Commuter,' a thriller set on a Metro-North train heading out of New York City.

By Jordan Mintzer

Jordan Mintzer

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Throughout his late renaissance as an action hero, Liam Neeson has battled wolves ( The Grey ), evil Albanians ( Taken ), evil Turks ( Taken 2 ), flight turbulence ( Non-Stop ), an unwanted TV show adaptation ( The A-Team ), an unwanted board game adaptation ( Battleship ), more evil Albanians ( Run All Night ), evil Germans ( Unknown ) and even evil Nazis, if you want to go all the way back to Schindler’s List .

But in The Commuter , which marks the 65-year-old star’s fourth collaboration with Spanish director and Hitchcock enthusiast Jaume Collet-Serra, he may be facing his greatest challenge yet: trying to take the Metro-North Railroad home from New York City during rush hour. (Had he been using the disastrous NYC subway system , Neeson would have been doomed from the start. At least here he has a fighting chance.)

Release date: Jan 12, 2018

Thoroughly enjoyable to watch if totally forgettable once you leave the theater, The Commuter feels like one of those films they simply don’t make anymore, at least in Hollywood. It’s a certified B-movie without superheroes or interplanetary travel, drawing its power from a whodunit, race-against-the-clock scenario that plays as if The Lady Vanishes and Strangers on a Train were chopped up and tossed into the blender along with a slab of CGI and a full bottle of Dexedrine. Given the dearth of solid thrillers to come out of the U.S. last year, this Lionsgate domestic release stands to turn a strong profit when it hits movie houses worldwide starting in mid-January.

Neeson plays Michael MacCauley , an Irishman in New York (no need to justify the brogue) whose backstory is dished out in an expedited 10 minutes, including a whiplash opening credits sequence that shows him repeatedly taking the same Hudson Line train from his picturesque suburb to his job selling insurance in the city. But on this particular day, MacCauley is beset with a slew of problems before the story even begins: He has to figure out how to pay college tuition for his children at the same time that he’s been laid off from work just a few months shy of retirement. We also learn that he used to be in the NYPD, which will help explain why, later on, he’s so good at handling a gun or beating the bejesus out of anyone who gets in his way.

Such is the setup when Neeson boards a packed 6 p.m. train at Grand Central Station and quickly finds himself face-to-face with Joanna (Vera Farmiga ), a flirty femme fatale who makes him a curious offer: If he can identity a certain someone named Prynne who isn’t part of the usual commuting crowd, then he will be awarded a decent chunk of change. Oh, and also, if he doesn’t help out, his family will be killed.

Anyone who’s seen Neeson in the Taken franchise — part of an action subgenre sometimes referred to as “daddy porn” — should know by now that you do not mess with the man’s brethren. Yet even if it’s easy to predict that MacCauley will come out on top, part of what makes The Commuter so watchable is the way Collet-Serra and writers Byron Willinger , Philip de Blasi and Ryan Engle tease out the tension throughout the protagonist’s long voyage home, keeping the pyrotechnics to a minimum until the final reel.

Making the most of the setting and scenario, the filmmakers dip into Hitchcock’s toolbox many a time, starting with a Vertigo -style dolly zoom the moment MacCauley realizes what a jam he’s in. Indeed, if Collet-Serra has already proven himself an earnest admirer of the Master of Suspense in the Neeson vehicles Unknown and Non-Stop , this movie seems like a veritable fanboy letter — from plot points ripped out of the aforementioned train-set flicks to a fight scene that takes a few cues from Shadow of a Doubt to the fact that the story kicks off in Grand Central Station, where Cary Grant headed out West with Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest . All that’s missing is the giant phallus of a train that ended that movie, whereas here it’s more a case of coitus interruptus when MacCauley’s Metro-North literally flies off the rails at one point, leading to a final showdown.

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In terms of MacGuffins , the one that The Commuter uses is not the most convincing, nor does there seem to be any real psychological depth to the proceedings. Viewers looking for Hitchcockian subtext should probably exit at the first station, but if you simply want to ride along without thinking too much about it, there is plenty to chew on, with a script that keeps the guessing game going as MacCauley tries to figure out which of his fellow passengers is his target and which one may be targeting him.

Neeson has definitely done this role a lot as of late, but that doesn’t make him any less good at it. There’s a world-weariness in the way he plays guys like MacCauley that could almost be a running joke by now — time to save the day yet again, daddy — but he brings enough gritty conviction to the table to make it feel like he’s never dialing it in. He’s backed by a solid supporting cast, including Farmiga , who only appears in a few scenes but quickly makes herself a pivotal player; Patrick Wilson , playing an old cop pal who becomes increasingly suspicious; and a slew of character actors depicting a multiethnic New York straddling many classes, from the douchey Wall Street banker to the part-time nurse with an attitude.

Like in Collet-Serra’s other films, tech credits are slick and definitely showy, with Paul Cameron’s camera gliding back and forth through the cars as if it were attached to a zip-line. One memorable fight sequence is done in a single take — or at least one that was seamlessly stitched together in post — and involves Neeson contending with an ax, a gun, several seat cushions and lots of glass. It’s totally over the top, yet impressive in the way it uses every element in the train as a suspense mechanism.

The same goes for The Commuter , which admirably transforms what’s usually the most boring, annoying, frustrating, smartphone screen-staring part of the day into a matter of life and death.

Production companies: StudioCanal , The Picture Show Company, Ombra Films, TF1 Film Production Distributor: Lionsgate Cast: Liam Neeson , Vera Farmiga , Patrick Wilson, Jonathan Banks, Sam Neil Director: Jaume Collet-Serra Screenwriters: Byron Willinger , Philip de Blasi , Ryan Engle, from a story by Bryon Willinger , Philip de Blasi Producers: Andrew Rona, Alex Heineman Executive producers: Michael Dreyer , Juan Sola, Jaume Collet-Serra, Ron Halperin , Didier Lupfer Director of photography: Paul Cameron Production designer: Richard Bridgland Costume designer: Jill Taylor Music: Roque Banos Editor: Nicolas de Toth Casting: Red Poerscout-Edgerton

Rated PG-13, 104 minutes

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Review: ‘The Commuter’ Has Panic, Paranoia and Punches. Liam Neeson Too.

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By A.O. Scott

• Jan. 11, 2018

I’ll never get too mad about a midwinter Liam Neeson action movie, and not only because I know Mr. Neeson will be angry enough for both of us. “I’m 60 years old,” he growls several times in “The Commuter,” ostensibly to complain about the indignities his character is suffering but really to invite our admiration. The dude can trade punches with guys half his age, roll out from under the wheels of a moving train and then jump right back onto the train. He doesn’t make it look easy. The whole appeal of Mr. Neeson’s late-career rebirth as an action hero is that it looks like hell.

Directed by the noted Neesonist auteur Jaume Collet-Serra ( “Unknown,” “Non-Stop,” “Run All Night” ), “The Commuter” for a short while promises to be something more than the usual barrage of fistfights, chases and grimaces. The opening title sequence, a montage of nearly-identical mornings in the life of Michael MacCauley, is a thing of beauty. Mike, who lives in Tarrytown, N.Y., awakens each day to ride the Metro-North Railroad train down to Manhattan. He kisses his wife ( Elizabeth McGovern ) and banters with their teenage son (Dean-Charles Chapman). What could have been a sketch of Cheeveresque ennui is instead a brief and lovely survey of contentment.

We know Mike’s happiness will be shattered, and the clouds that gather to darken his day are also, at least at first, pretty interesting. The MacCauleys lost a lot in the 2008 financial crisis, and they’ve been struggling to rebuild since then. Mike is abruptly laid off from his job selling insurance, and has a quietly foreboding encounter with colleagues from his previous job, which was with the New York Police Department. (Of course he’s a former cop. He’s Liam Neeson. His colleagues are played by Patrick Wilson and Sam Neill.) And then, on the hot, crowded ride home, Mike meets a mysterious woman named Joanna (Vera Farmiga) who offers him $100,000 to identify another passenger, another stranger on the train.

Until the particulars of Joanna’s scheme start to reveal themselves — roughly until the first fight sequence — Mr. Collet-Serra cultivates a clammy, hallucinatory, Hitchcockian vibe. Mike is a hapless patsy, but he has also been knocked off his ethical moorings by the prospect of financial ruin. He’s in a trap he can’t escape, and suddenly everything looks different. The familiar faces of fellow commuters, some of whom he’s ridden with for years, take on a sinister cast. Panic and paranoia waft in on the summer air.

And then the mood is ruined. It’s not so much that “Commuter” reverts to form as an action movie — we expected as much — but that it does so with such weary contempt for its audience and its own better instincts. It’s not even very good as a genre exercise, and can’t always keep track of which genre muscles it wants to flex. For a while it’s a locked-room mystery. Then it’s a runaway-train thriller. Joanna’s conspiracy is so vast and preposterous that it becomes nothing more than a grab-bag of plot twists. As Mike pivots from moral ambiguity to righteous heroism, Mr. Neeson looks increasingly tired. I can’t blame him, though I guess I am a little bit mad after all.

The Commuter Rated PG-13. Stand clear of the closing doors. Running time: 1 hour 44 minutes.

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Parents' guide to, the commuter.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 4 Reviews
• Kids Say 16 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Train-set Neeson thriller isn't smart, but it is exciting.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Commuter is a Liam Neeson thriller set on a commuter train. Neeson's character must make some hard choices and try to solve a puzzle. Violence is the biggest issue: Expect intense fight scenes, with punching, kicking, stabbing with knives, and bloody wounds. A gun is…

Why Age 14+?

Guns and shooting. Peril. Brutal fight scenes, with martial arts and stabbing wi

A use of "f--k," plus sporadic use of "s--t," "bulls--t

After being fired, a man drinks several pints of beer in a bar.

Married couple kisses.

Any Positive Content?

Neeson's MacCauley is a fascinating action hero -- his success isn't abo

Touches on the idea that people who do everything "right" often aren&#

Parents need to know that The Commuter is a Liam Neeson thriller set on a commuter train. Neeson's character must make some hard choices and try to solve a puzzle. Violence is the biggest issue: Expect intense fight scenes, with punching, kicking, stabbing with knives, and bloody wounds. A gun is brandished, but shots are only sporadically fired. A man's head is smashed by a bus, and there's a massive derailed-train sequence with smashing and flying debris. Language includes a use of "f--k" and infrequent use of other words ("s--t," "bulls--t," "a--hole"); there's also a middle-finger gesture. After being fired, a man drinks several beers in a bar. It's not exactly an airtight story, but it moves fast enough that viewers can sit back and enjoy the silly suspense and crazy action.

To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Violence & Scariness

Guns and shooting. Peril. Brutal fight scenes, with martial arts and stabbing with knives. A dead body. A man is pushed in front of a bus; his head smashes against it. Bloody nose, bloody wounds. Huge, spectacular train crash, with flying debris.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

A use of "f--k," plus sporadic use of "s--t," "bulls--t," "a--hole," "pr--k," "son of a bitch," "hell," "goddamn," "scumbag," "frickin'," "Jesus" (as an exclamation), "swear to God." Middle-finger gesture.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Role Models

Neeson's MacCauley is a fascinating action hero -- his success isn't about bodybuilding or fighting skill but rather about goodness, trying to do the right thing, and trying to protect the ones he loves, although he's certainly flawed. He faces several tough choices and doesn't always choose correctly, but he does try to do what's best for those around him. Cast members/characters represent a wide array of cultures and backgrounds.

Positive Messages

Touches on the idea that people who do everything "right" often aren't rewarded; characters say that people must be unscrupulous to really get ahead in this cynical world. But happily, despite some poor decisions, the good guys eventually choose to be good.

Where to Watch

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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents Say (4)
• Kids Say (16)

Based on 4 parent reviews

Another generic action movie starring Liam Neeson.

Kept me on the edge of my seat, what's the story.

In THE COMMUTER, Michael MacCauley ( Liam Neeson ) has worked as an insurance salesman for 10 years, riding the train in and out of New York each day, on both good days and bad. Then he loses his job, just when he needs to pay for his son's college tuition. On the train home, a woman he doesn't know ( Vera Farmiga ) asks MacCauley whether, in exchange for $100,000, he'd be willing to find a single passenger, one who doesn't belong, and plant a tracer on the passenger's bag. MacCauley soon learns that his wife and son will be in danger if he doesn't take the offer and follow the rules. So he goes about trying to find the unknown passenger, though each time he comes close, the game takes a new turn. When the train begins to hurtle out of control, headed for derailment, he realizes just how high the stakes really are -- and how much power the forces of evil have. Can MacCauley solve the puzzle before it's too late?

Is It Any Good?

Neeson's fourth pairing with director Jaume Collet-Serra , this thriller is far from great, but the duo's usual blend of non-stop action and silly suspense still works like crazy. (Their previous collaborations are Unknown , Non-Stop , and Run All Night . ) Though the plot of The Commuter doesn't really hold water, the movie moves fast enough and doles out information so cleverly and sporadically that it's possible to simply turn off your brain and go along for the speedy ride. It helps that Neeson is such a fascinating presence. Rather than a trained bodybuilder, he's a 60-something everyman/family man who's strong and charismatic while striving to do the right thing.

Virtually every shot of The Commuter is on him, though Collet-Serra also provides plenty of razzle-dazzle, including the wonderful opening montage of all the mornings of a lifetime: waking up to the alarm, drinking coffee, leaving the house, possibly arguing/possibly kissing. On the train, the camera roams up and down the aisles smoothly, passing through one empty car whose air-conditioning is broken and fluidly twisting and turning to capture all the suspects' faces. Fight scenes and action scenes may not be masterful, but they're at least clear, potent, and exciting. Indeed, The Commuter is close in spirit to what used to be called a B movie, and it's solid entertainment.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about The Commuter 's violence . How intense is it? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

Did you notice any stereotypes in the movie? Are different ethnicities, cultures, races, and sexes represented? Is there any commentary on their representation?

How is drinking depicted in the movie? Does the main character drink for pleasure or for other reasons? Is drinking glamorized? Is it used as a solution to problems?

Is the main character untrustworthy or unforgivable for initially taking the money? What does he learn over the course of the story?

Movie Details

• In theaters : January 12, 2018
• On DVD or streaming : April 17, 2018
• Cast : Liam Neeson , Vera Farmiga , Patrick Wilson
• Director : Jaume Collet-Serra
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Lionsgate
• Genre : Thriller
• Run time : 104 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : some intense action/violence, and language
• Last updated : December 6, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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What to watch next.

North by Northwest

The Girl on the Train

Best Action Movies for Kids

Thriller movies.

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The Commuter Reviews

You know what to expect – a fast pace, good action, that Neeson growl, and some amusing corniness.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 19, 2022

If the film is mostly disposable and too familiar, the initial face-to-face encounter between Neeson and Farmiga proves that talented actors can make lousy writing sound better. But that single moment is hardly enough to justify the rest.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Mar 16, 2022

If I wish that Neeson had an opportunity to show more gravitas in the throes of his sweaty unravelling, I recognize this is partly my disappointment that we didn't get his Unforgiven before he put this side of himself out to pasture.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 3, 2022

There's a good but underutilized cast, a promising premise that's undercut by a dour tone, and not enough action to justify the weak story.

Full Review | Dec 29, 2021

The Commuter uses female characters as nothing more than plot accessories.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Nov 4, 2021

Seeing [Neeson] barrel roll out of the way of an oncoming train and jumping onto a moving train is laughable at this point, but never less than entertaining.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Aug 24, 2021

Liam Neeson certainly knows how to play the everyman with a special set of skills but he's done it before and better in other movies.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 28, 2021

Neeson remains thoroughly engaging, capably bringing the audience into his frantic scenario of heedlessness and abandon.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Dec 5, 2020

You don't have to be a dad to enjoy the visceral thrills of a Liam Neeson action movie, but it certainly helps if you suffer from the same American middle class insecurities as The Commuter's Michael.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 8, 2020

The cliché plot and the predictability of its outcome hurtling at high speed throughout the storyline make The Commuter a surprisingly fun Friday night pleaser.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 19, 2020

If anything, it goes to the end of the line, comes to a standstill, and then blows up for what feels like half an hour straight.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 23, 2020

Whatever interesting ideas it had to begin with is never capitalized on, and thus it ends up being just another generic action picture in a long line of generic action pictures.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Jul 18, 2020

There are much better movies that more or less do the same thing, and while it's not a fully satisfying meal, if you're in the mood for the cinematic equivalent of a salty snack full of empty calories, you can do worse than "The Commuter."

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Jul 1, 2020

A fairly exciting and tension-filled romp through a diverse cast of mostly unknown actors, all of whom get to shine to varying degrees.

Full Review | May 27, 2020

The Commuter is much less concerned with staging brawls than it is with trying to spin a taut, ticking time bomb thriller, and for the most part it's quite successful.

Full Review | Mar 23, 2020

The film is hobbled by sloppy camera work, ludicrous fight scenes, hairbreadth escapes, and altogether too many suspects.

Full Review | Mar 10, 2020

I'm a Liam Neeson fan, but he needs to find better scripts. This one is way too long, overly complicated and unrealistic.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 27, 2020

You'll be engrossed for much of the film but in the end, you'll probably walk out thinking, "what was all that build-up for?"

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 1, 2019

It is not that there are no moments of implausible action, but the truth is that they are much more dosed, and therefore, it is a more complete spectacle. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Aug 1, 2019

It is a good option for those who want to go to the movies, buy some popcorn and hang out without complications. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jul 31, 2019

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Commuter

An insurance salesman/ex-cop is caught up in a life-threatening conspiracy during his daily commute home. An insurance salesman/ex-cop is caught up in a life-threatening conspiracy during his daily commute home. An insurance salesman/ex-cop is caught up in a life-threatening conspiracy during his daily commute home.

• Jaume Collet-Serra
• Byron Willinger
• Philip de Blasi
• Liam Neeson
• Vera Farmiga
• Patrick Wilson
• 509 User reviews
• 296 Critic reviews
• 56 Metascore
• 2 nominations total

Top cast 85

• Michael MacCauley

• Alex Murphy

• Captain Hawthorne

• Karen MacCauley

• Danny MacCauley

• Conductor Sam

• Conductor Jimmy
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Neeson revealed on a talk show that no scenes were filmed on board an actual train. Instead, all of these scenes were shot on a soundstage, with the same single mock-up train cabinet serving as all of them, only slightly redressed, and all the outside scenery added in post production with the help of green screens.
• Goofs NYPD has no authority to leave the city limits and take charge of any crime scene let alone a hostage situation in another county. The Westchester County Police and Metro North Police would handle the stand off.

Michael MacCauley : Hey, Goldman Sachs. On behalf of the American middle class, fuck you.

• Crazy credits The end credits are done in the style of a train map.
• Connections Featured in Chris Stuckmann Movie Reviews: The Commuter (2018)
• Soundtracks Melting Pot Performed by Blue Mink Written by Roger Greenaway and Roger Cook Courtesy of Sanctuary Records Group, a BMG Company Issued under licence from Universal/Dick James Music Ltd

User reviews 509

Liam neeson pacing up and down a train: the movie.

• maccas-56367
• Jan 19, 2019
• How long is The Commuter? Powered by Alexa
• January 12, 2018 (United States)
• United States
• United Kingdom
• Official Facebook (UK)
• Official Instagram
• El pasajero
• Surrey, England, UK
• StudioCanal
• TF1 Films Production
• The Picture Company
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $30,000,000 (estimated)
• $36,343,858
• $13,701,452
• Jan 14, 2018
• $119,942,434
• Runtime 1 hour 44 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Surround 7.1

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Having collaborated for three films already, actor Liam Neeson and director Jaume Collet-Serra reunite for their fourth and possibly silliest thriller yet with The Commuter . Collet-Serra made his name as a skilled schlockmeister with his House of Wax remake and horror/thriller Orphan in the 2000s, before he joined forces with Neeson (in the post- Taken stage of his acting career) for the 2011 mystery/thriller Unknown . The pair has since tried their hand at something a little more high-minded with the dramatic crime thriller Run All Night , but The Commuter has much more in common with their 2014 murder mystery Non-Stop .  The Commuter is a goofy and formulaic thriller, but also an entertaining one thanks to Neeson's action star chops and Collet-Serra's sense of style.

Michael McCauley (Neeson) is a sixty year old insurance salesman as well as an ex-cop, who has spent the last ten years commuting to work by train. When Michael is fired from his job one day for no particularly good reason, he is left trying to figure out how he and his wife Karen (Elizabeth McGovern) will be able to make ends meet, what with their son Danny (Dean-Charles Chapman) about to start college. On his ride home that day, Michael is approached by a mysterious woman named Joanna (Vera Farmiga) who makes him an offer: he will be paid $100,00 if he can figure out which of the passengers on the train is carrying something precious in their bag.

Michael dismisses the encounter as a strange joke, but soon discovers that Joanna is completely serious, and that there will be terrible consequences if he doesn't make good on their "deal". As Michael races against the clock to find the mystery passenger before they get off the train, he comes to realize that not only his own life, but the lives of every passenger onboard, and even his own family, is at risk if he fails.

The Commuter is very similar to Non-Stop from a script perspective - which only makes sense, as Non-Stop cowriter Ryan Engle also co-penned this film, based on an earlier screenplay written by relative unknowns Philip de Blasi and Byron Willinger. While the film's Agatha Christie inspired premise lends itself to a cracking mystery, The Commuter doesn't do anything particularly inventive or unique with the formula. Most of the red herrings and plot twists that The Commuter throws out are easy to spot ahead of time, and the actual solution to the larger conflict is clearly telegraphed early on in the narrative. Fortunately, The Commuter is less concerned with crafting a mind-blowing puzzle for viewers to solve, and more focused on delivering the sort of relentless thrill ride that audiences have come to expect whenever Neeson plays the world's greatest problem-solving dad.

Michael McCauley is at first presented as more of a regular person than the characters Neeson has played in his previous collaborations with Collet-Serra. In function, however, Michael isn't all that different from Neeson's other action/thriller protagonists, and the actor delivers most of his lines with the same gruff voiced intensity that he's fine-tuned since he first demonstrated his "particular set of skills". Collet-Serra and his production team take advantage of the film's enclosed setting to stage The Commuter 's close quarter fight scenes in a way that makes it believable enough (for the film's purposes) that Neeson's cop turned insurance agent wouldn't be completely overwhelmed by his opponents. The movie also incorporates some stylistic flourishes (sped up motion, sequence shots seemingly created in post-production) in these scenes, to further spice things up.

As he has done in his previous collaborations with Neeson, Collet-Serra fills out  The Commuter 's supporting cast with A-list talent. In addition to Farmiga (who previously worked with Collet-Serra on Orphan ) and her Conjuring  movies costar Patrick Wilson, the movie further benefits from having seasoned character actors like McGovern filling out its ensemble, as well as Jonathan Banks and Sam Neill in smaller roles. Most of the film's characters - especially the train passengers played by lesser known actors - are the sort of two-dimensional stock types that one expects to find in this sort of pulpy fare. The Commuter is above all else the Liam Neeson show, and it wisely never loses sight of that throughout its runtime.

Collet-Serra is known for infusing his B-grade movies with slick production values, and that remains the case with  The Commuter . The director typically makes good use of the environments in his films, be it the inescapable inside of the airplane from  Non-Stop or the beautiful and isolated beach in  The Shallows . He likewise uses the cramped and dingy interiors of a commuter train to positive effect here, when it comes to generating suspense and tension. Working with cinematographer Paul Cameron ( Collateral , Dead Man Down ), Collet-Serra stylishly maps out the internal layout of the film's central set piece and keeps things visually engaging, in spite of the unchanging foreground scenery. The downside is, The Commuter is more interested in getting to the next scene of Neeson punching someone than it is fleshing out its characters or exploring the political overtones of its narrative.

The Commuter is neither Neeson nor Collet-Serra's best thriller yet, but it's a perfectly serviceable genre movie that delivers everything audiences expect from Neeson's action films nowadays - to a fault. It's not a film that demands to be seen in a theater, and it falls well short of breaking the mold that Neeson and Collet-Serra have established for their movies together by now. At the same time, The Commuter is enjoyably ridiculous and offers enough entertainment to help beat away the doldrums of January. Here's to hoping Neeson's and Collet-Serra's " Taken  On A Boat", or whatever moving vehicle their next thriller takes place on, is equally fun.

The Commuter  is now playing in U.S. theaters nationwide. It is 104 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for some intense action/violence, and language.

Let us know what you thought of the film in the comments section!

The Commuter

The Commuter is a thriller starring Liam Neeson as an insurance salesman who becomes embroiled in a criminal conspiracy during his daily train commute. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the film features a tense narrative where the protagonist must identify a hidden passenger to save the lives of everyone on board. The cast also includes Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, and Jonathan Banks.

• Movie Reviews
• 2.5 star movies

‘The Commuter’ Review: All Aboard Liam Neeson’s Gleefully Absurd ‘Taken’ on a Train

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

No matter how senseless the plots of his movies, Jaume Collet-Serra can direct the hell out of them – and  The Commuter is no exception. The Spanish filmmaker, who wickedly used Blake Lively as shark bait in The Shallows, keeps the tension on such a high burner that you won’t realize the whole thing doesn’t add up until after you leave the theater. It teams Collet-Serra with star Liam Neeson for the fourth time, following Unknown, Non-Stop and Run All Night.  Given the title, you might think The Commuter is merely Taken on a train. Think again. 

Neeson plays Michael MacCauley, an insurance salesman who worries hard about how he and his wife (Elizabeth McGovern, wasted) can swing college tuition for their son. The old man’s brow furrows mightily as he takes the commuter train from his home in upstate New York to his job in Manhattan. This particular summer day gets worse for “good soldier” Michael when his prick boss fires him and tells him that with soldiers there are always casualties. Afraid to tell his wife, Michael stops for a drink (or three) with his old buddy, Murphy (Patrick Wilson). The two worked together in the past as – wait for it – cops. Which helps to explain how Michael handles himself so well when the fighting starts. OK, maybe “ Taken on a train” isn’t so far off the mark.

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From the moment Michael hits Grand Central Station and boards the train home, the suspense is relentless. First, a Hitchcock blonde name Joanna, played with seductive shadiness by Vera Farmiga , approaches him with an offer. How would newly unemployed Michael like to pick up a quick 100 grand for doing “one little thing?” That one little thing being, naturally, to use his police profiling skills to ID a mystery passenger known as Prynne and sneak a tracking device on said person. Simple, huh?

Not in this morality tale, in which a moment of weakness leads to betrayal, violence, conspiracy and murder. Think Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train, which screenwriters Byron Willinger, Philip de Blasi, and Ryan Engle crib from shamelessly but without a scintilla of that classic’s style and substance. Michael is denied much ethical complexity: If he doesn’t do as he’s told, his family will die. Still, in a world ruled by greed, it’s hard to resist Neeson’s big line for the Trump era: “If you want to know what God thinks of money, look at the people he gives it to.”

No spoilers about the details, except to say that Neeson – still an action hero to cheer for – carries the day through ax battles, train-car chases and one fight scene in a confined space that just kills. There’s nice work as well from Jonathan Banks ( Better Call Saul ) and Florence Pugh ( Lady Macbeth ) as fellow passengers. But The Commuter isn’t about acting, it’s about the whooshing excitement of nonstop suspense. Collet-Serra is a B-movie magician, even when the plot strains – or rather, shatters to pieces as someone stomps on the fragments. But in the doldrums of January, the movie pulls out every trick in the suspense-thriller book to keep us grinning at each new absurdity. Silly? You bet. Irresistible? Totally.

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