Decades ago, Liam Neeson was best known for his roles in renowned dramas and historical epics — and then came Taken. Neeson’s role in the blockbuster 2008 thriller was so impactful that it almost created a genre of its own – one that’s still lining the pockets of the Academy Award-nominated performer.
Many Neeson action films followed after Taken, and though the basic formula was repeated every time, there were also an assortment of character twists that make each one memorable in its own way. Among them is an underrated action adventure that has just returned to streaming. It’s a movie that rests on a very simple premise, one so basic that it’s hard to imagine how it wasn’t used before. All this to say, if you ever see Neeson on a train, you’d better get off at the next stop.
Liam Neeson Shines with a Star-Sudded Cast in a Vastly Underrated Action Thriller
Released in January 2018, The Commuter follows Michael MacCauley, a former police officer who has just lost his new job. As the story begins, MacCauley gets on the train he takes every day, thinking about how he’ll tell his family he’s been laid off. In the midst of all this, he meets someone who might change his life.
A stranger named Joanna tells him that if he locates a passenger who has stolen something, he’ll be paid a large sum of money. When MacCauley investigates, he finds some of the money and tries to escape, only to realize he’s just become part of something bigger than he realized — and if he doesn’t do as he’s told, his family will be harmed.
The Commuter stars Liam Neeson alongside a solid cast that includes familiar faces such as Sam Neill, Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Jonathan Banks, Florence Pugh, and Letitia Wright. It was written by Byron Willinger, Philip de Blasi, and Ryan Engle from a story conceived by Willinger and de Blasi, and directed by frequent Neeson collaborator Jaume Collet-Serra.
Years Later, ‘The Commuter’ Remains a Notable Execution of the Neeson-Collet-Serra Formula
The Commuter was Neeson and director Jaume Collet-Serra’s fourth collaboration after the action hits Unknown, Non-Stop, and Run All Night. The film follows the typical outline presented by the duo in their prior works, with the important distinction that it boasts higher production values, and simply works better when building toward the adrenaline-packed second act. Overall, the story is better assembled than those earlier movies, with the addition of a mystery element that blends well with the non-stop action.
Years after its original release, the film is again available for fans of Neeson’s shoot-’em-up filmography. The Commuter is now streaming on Hulu as part of the platform’s August update, which also includes Tropic Thunder, Ex Machina, and the Men in Black series. Trust us when we say this one is worth revisiting, regardless of how many times you’ve seen Neeson do this kind of thing before.
