The Commuter
If the stories are true and Liam Neeson, who is now 65, is going to wind down his action movie career tangent, I, for one, think it will be a shame as it will probably mean that it will be the end of his partnership with director Jaume Collet-Serra. Since they teamed up for Unknown in 2011 they have jointly produced the four best films of this phase of Neeson’s career with Non-Stop, Run All Night and now The Commuter.
Neeson is Michael McCauley, an insurance broker who has just got fired. With two mortgages and mounting college bills for his son, he cannot afford to be laid-off. That same day, on his usual train ride home, a mysterious lady called Joanna (Vera Farmiga) engages him in conversation. She tells him that if he identifies a person on the train who “is not meant to be there” and places a tracking device on them, she will give him $100,000.
Tempted by the cash, and using his skills as an ex-cop, he initially accepts the task but soon realises that the consequences for his target will be dire. He no longer wants to co-operate but finds out that his family are in danger…
Sure, it is easy to write this off as a typical Neeson film. There are the requisite fist fights and action set pieces but they are staged particularly well. Also, if the details plot do not bear too much scrutiny, the overall premise is almost Hitchcockian, similar to the way that Unknown was. Neeson is fine as always and Farmiga is suitably enigmatic and charming in her couple of scenes.
My only real criticism is that the identity of the bad guy and the person that McCauley is tasked to find are both pretty obvious. But this is a great, fun, action movie that is a real treat on the big screen.
Rating: 8 out of 10
The Open House
Another disappointing Netflix original film that is available to stream but not in cinemas, The Open House is a lukewarm horror from writer and director duo matt Angel and Suzanne Coote.
A boy and his recently widowed mother move to a new house in the country where mysterious events start to occur. It is efficiently enough made but incredibly dull and lacks any originality.
Rating: 4.5 out of 10