I'm not sure Jaume Collet-Serra can do much better than The Shallows. At least not when he's teamed with Liam Neeson.
To give credit where it's due, the duo make a hell of a pair. The Commuter marks the fourth time the pair has teamed up (and I confess I haven't seen any of the previous collaborations, though they have been on my list for a few years now). Liam Neeson, once the great actor and now only a great action hero, is eminently watchable, and Collet-Serra certainly knows how to handle him. The director, on the other hand, started by making horror movies that, while not great, have a life of their own, and has since continued by making exciting if unimportant action thrillers.
Like this one. Michael McCauley (Neeson) is a former police officer and current insurance salesman. His life is described in an opening montage, depicting his relationship with his family, his work, and the train on which he commutes daily. One day, he's unexpectedly fired from his job, and on his way home he meets a mysterious woman (Vera Farmiga) who approaches him and offers conversation. She proposes a hypothetical situation -- involving him making a choice to do a meaningless task, the repercussions of which he would remain ignorant -- which he laughs about before entertaining. He quickly learns the situation isn't hypothetical at all, and the consequences of his actions will be deadly. Not to himself, but to a total stranger. What is he to do?
Well, as we totally expect, he tries to escape, to fight back, to find a loophole. But forces beyond his awareness are conspiring against him, and as the clock ticks and the train nears its destination, McCauley has to make terrible choices to save as many people as he can. The movie has a perpetual forward motion, much like the train itself. Unfortunately, also like the train, the movie is endlessly predictable and familiar. There's not much novelty here, no matter how hard supporting players like Farmiga and Patrick Wilson try to make it interesting.
I personally loved The Shallows, the director's return to horror two years ago, with its gorgeous visuals, surprising violence, and wicked sense of fun. And the best elements of that have been replicated here, especially in shots of the sunset filtering in through the train windows. Fabulously atmospheric, the film marries the blue-collar grunge of the characters to the higher aesthetic that, really, all filmmaking should aspire for, while keeping everything fast and thoughtless. It's, really, a damn good summer flick. Or it would have been if it had been released in summer.
As it is, it feels like a pretty but hollow homage to other, more original films. It's got the tightly-wound mystery and suspense elements of a Hitchcock piece with the wild thrills of a roller coaster, but nothing feels terribly important. Which might be fine if you want to lean back with a beer and beat the heat. I'd rather watch that shark movie instead.
IMDb: The Commuter
No comments:
Post a Comment