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.
- Awards
- 2 nominations total
Featured reviews
Usual comments about Liam Neeson playing Liam Neeson again. Another one of his simple action movies etc etc.
But I disagree. You know why? This man never disappoints. I have yet to see the day when I'm coming out of a cinema (or my living room) saying to myself "nahh, that was bad...".
Because - even when his movies does suck, Neeson himself always brings it to the table and saves the day. Never halfa$$sed day at work. And so sympathetic it always shines through in his characters.
Okay. That being said. This movie has a decent storyline. Everything's not good in it -- far from it -- but he's just bringing us to the finish line one more time and I'm amazed. The guy is 66 or 67, and looks ripped for a 35 year old.
Clapping hands from Sweden!
The first half of this was a gripping, highly entertaining action movie in a similar vein to Neeson's previous "Non-Stop". I really enjoyed that movie and I'm a huge Vera Farmiga fan. In fact, "The Commuter" has a phenomenal cast - it's just a shame their talents aren't put to better use.
At times, it seemed very tongue-in-cheek and self-aware of its stupidity, as jokes and one-liners would randomly appear in scenes where you werne't expecting it. Things just became so unbelievable though that I started to tune-out. It all just seemed to be Liam Neeson pacing up and down a train while random phones rang.
The insanity reached a peak once a major train derailment took place and all the passengers casually started doing a spot of interior decorating like nothing happened.
If you have seen "The Taking of Pelham 123", "Unstoppable" or "Under Siege 2", then you have seen better versions of this.
At times, it seemed very tongue-in-cheek and self-aware of its stupidity, as jokes and one-liners would randomly appear in scenes where you werne't expecting it. Things just became so unbelievable though that I started to tune-out. It all just seemed to be Liam Neeson pacing up and down a train while random phones rang.
The insanity reached a peak once a major train derailment took place and all the passengers casually started doing a spot of interior decorating like nothing happened.
If you have seen "The Taking of Pelham 123", "Unstoppable" or "Under Siege 2", then you have seen better versions of this.
If you've seen one Neeson film, you've probably seen them all. Despite having already mastered the art of playing the grizzled, independant tough-guy, Neeson is back with The Commuter, in which he plays an unsuspecting ... well ... commuter, who is drawn into a criminal conspiracy which could kill everyone on-board.
It's a familiar sounding plot, but it's one that Neeson excels in, in fact, he may be too good at it by now. With all that said, The Commuter, much like Taken, Taken 2, Taken 3, Non-Stop, A Walk Among the Tombstones, Run All Night and Schindlers List, is another fun Neeson film which you'll probably enjoy much more than you'd be willing to admit.
It's a familiar sounding plot, but it's one that Neeson excels in, in fact, he may be too good at it by now. With all that said, The Commuter, much like Taken, Taken 2, Taken 3, Non-Stop, A Walk Among the Tombstones, Run All Night and Schindlers List, is another fun Neeson film which you'll probably enjoy much more than you'd be willing to admit.
The movie started off good, showing the daily routine, introducing the characters and setting up the mystery. The editing was interesting and even a little artsy, yet it got me hooked. I really enjoyed the first 30 minutes.
It was setting itself up to look like an intelligent mystery action. Having Neeson in this kind of movie spoils a lot, yet I thought this would be something different from his typical movies since he's getting older. I haven't seen the trailer though, just went to see the movie straight away.
After everything is set up, it just turns into a totally divorced from reality generic conspiracy action. The premise was indeed as silly as it gets. The ending was as unsurprising as possible. Omnipresent supervillains who can plan and predict everything by the smallest detail, control the situation without even being close yet fail at the most obvious things. The plot just plays itself, at times Neeson is not even doing anything to change the situation, it just changes by itself to adapt to his needs. This is not a well written movie. The ending had me saying "oh, no, you're not doing this...oh God".
Seeing Neeson perform ridiculous stunts was also a little confusing. No one should see an old man getting beaten like that. This just looks wrong.
Overall, next time I'll want to see a cop/witness drama routine, I'd better go re-watch 16 Blocks. At least it had characters instead of comic book villains.
It was setting itself up to look like an intelligent mystery action. Having Neeson in this kind of movie spoils a lot, yet I thought this would be something different from his typical movies since he's getting older. I haven't seen the trailer though, just went to see the movie straight away.
After everything is set up, it just turns into a totally divorced from reality generic conspiracy action. The premise was indeed as silly as it gets. The ending was as unsurprising as possible. Omnipresent supervillains who can plan and predict everything by the smallest detail, control the situation without even being close yet fail at the most obvious things. The plot just plays itself, at times Neeson is not even doing anything to change the situation, it just changes by itself to adapt to his needs. This is not a well written movie. The ending had me saying "oh, no, you're not doing this...oh God".
Seeing Neeson perform ridiculous stunts was also a little confusing. No one should see an old man getting beaten like that. This just looks wrong.
Overall, next time I'll want to see a cop/witness drama routine, I'd better go re-watch 16 Blocks. At least it had characters instead of comic book villains.
My wife and I watched this movie at home on DVD from our public library. It is the right length, just over 90 minutes, and kept our interest the whole.
Yet this is a throw-away movie, the story is highly contrived to create suspense. For example he is told to look for a passenger "who doesn't belong" yet the people manipulating him know exactly who the passenger is.
My other issue with it are the fights, hand-to-hand combat in a moving train, they are shown to hit each other so hard, sometimes with devices (guitar!) that would kill them yet they recover very quickly. It definitely subtracts from the believability.
Yet overall I found it suitable entertainment because I like Liam Neeson, he is perfect for this type of role. He is Michael MacCauley, an insurance salesman, who commutes by train along the Hudson River and into NYC each day. After 10 years he pretty well knows all the usual commuters. But this day he is laid off, he has two mortgages, his son is about to start college, so when he is tempted with $100,000 cash to perform a task it gives him the motive to accept it. As a former cop he has the investigative instincts.
The DVD extras are interesting, except for brief NYC scenes the whole movie was shot on sets at Pinewood Studios in England. They say 90% of the actors are British but I didn't try to verify that number.
Yet this is a throw-away movie, the story is highly contrived to create suspense. For example he is told to look for a passenger "who doesn't belong" yet the people manipulating him know exactly who the passenger is.
My other issue with it are the fights, hand-to-hand combat in a moving train, they are shown to hit each other so hard, sometimes with devices (guitar!) that would kill them yet they recover very quickly. It definitely subtracts from the believability.
Yet overall I found it suitable entertainment because I like Liam Neeson, he is perfect for this type of role. He is Michael MacCauley, an insurance salesman, who commutes by train along the Hudson River and into NYC each day. After 10 years he pretty well knows all the usual commuters. But this day he is laid off, he has two mortgages, his son is about to start college, so when he is tempted with $100,000 cash to perform a task it gives him the motive to accept it. As a former cop he has the investigative instincts.
The DVD extras are interesting, except for brief NYC scenes the whole movie was shot on sets at Pinewood Studios in England. They say 90% of the actors are British but I didn't try to verify that number.
Did you know
- TriviaNeeson 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.
- GoofsNYPD 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.
- Quotes
Michael MacCauley: Hey, Goldman Sachs. On behalf of the American middle class, fuck you.
- Crazy creditsThe end credits are done in the style of a train map.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Chris Stuckmann Movie Reviews: The Commuter (2018)
- SoundtracksMelting 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
- How long is The Commuter?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- El pasajero
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $30,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $36,343,858
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $13,701,452
- Jan 14, 2018
- Gross worldwide
- $119,942,434
- Runtime1 hour 44 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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