Review of The Commuter (2018 movie)?

The Commuter movie is a fast-paced thriller that somehow runs on similar rails of Murder on the Orient Express sans the visuals of course. I know it would be wrong to compare the two, that they are set in a whole different universe, the similarity might amuse you.

What kind of person are you?

The Commuter movie brings home real tension that Liam Neeson perfects once again working on the lines of all his previous action ventures like Unknown, Run All Night and Non-Stop. Hold that thought! It is the same director. Jaume Collet-Serra is known for making movies that stars Liam in his action avatar. If he hasn’t milked him enough, I don’t know who has.

The Commuter Movie Plot (Spoilers)

Even though The Commuter movie carries a questionably built plot, it goes on to feel better as it unspools. The flick kicks off with an ex-police officer, Michael McCauley (Liam Neeson) commuting in a series of frames to his daily life as a life insurance salesman. One day he is fired from his job, and the whole world comes crashing down on him as he sits in a bar with his friend Murphy (Patrick Wilson) confiding in him how life is fickle.

On his way back home, his mobile gets stolen. Entry Joanna (Vera Farmiga) (team Conjuring…Yay!) who cracks a conversation with him. Hypothetically proposing a situation:

What if I asked you to do one little thing?

Her terms being it would affect only an individual on the train, in turn, offering the needy Michael insane amount of money.

Someone on this train does not belong, all you have to do is find them.

In an age where it is hard to afford a reliable detective, bumping into Liam Neeson seems like a much cheaper alternative.

Finding Prynne

As per Joanna, the mission is to find a person called “Prynne” who doesn’t belong and plant a bug tracker on him/her before he/she gets off at Cold Springs stop. Michael ends up finding the bag realizing her terms weren’t hypothetical after all.

When he tries to get off, he is stopped by a girl who hands him an envelope with his wife’s wedding ring.

If you haven’t already figured it out, they are watching you.

Michael asks one of the regular commuters Walt (Jonathan Banks) for help by writing in a newspaper. Joanna already knows. (How?) She gets Walt killed.

Finding a man suspicious, he tags him with the tracker after getting into a fight with him.