Review: The Commuter - A tiresome journey that you'll want to disembark long before it reaches it's final destination

With the weekly diet of high profile Oscar contenders in our cinema screens at present sometimes it can be nice to switch off and enjoy a good old fashioned brain relaxing action packed blockbuster. A film that has zero expectations on arrival and can pleasantly surprise on departure! On first glance The Commuter seemed like just the tonic for those in need of a high octane nail biting big budget feature that sees Liam Neeson takes the reins in another Takenesque type role that he seems to churn out on a frequent basis but still has an eager audience lapping it up!
In this action-packed thriller, Liam Neeson plays Michael, an insurance salesman, whose daily commute home quickly becomes anything but routine. After being confronted by a mysterious stranger (Vera Farmiga), Michael is blackmailed into finding the identity of a passenger on his train before the last stop. As he works against the clock to solve the riddle, Michael is caught up in a criminal conspiracy that carries life and death stakes for himself and his fellow passengers.
Reuniting once more with director Jaume Collet Serra to say Neeson is in familiar territory here would be a vast understatement. The problem is however that since the runaway cult classic Taken hit our screens every copycat since has seen a slight decline in quality which at this stage sees these particular type of movies sink to farcical depths where even the explosive action sequence can't save it.
This feature could have been so much better as it had a reasonable premise, a decent start and a cast filled with quality actors. The problem is that is seemed to get more ludicrous as it ran on, with every scene that bit more far fetched than the last, to the point where it largely seemed that the director was just winging it by the time it came to an exhausted end!
Corny dialogue, clunky fight scenes and over the top action sequences all combine to ensure that after a few solid weeks of quality features in our cinema screens, we now welcome the arrival of the first bona fide turkey of 2018. Disappointing!
✸✸