The Commuter (Jaume Collet-Serra)

THE COMMUTER, aka LIAM NEESON ON A TRAIN
Dir. Jaume Collet-Serra

https://i.imgur.com/3oB4beD.jpg

IMDb page

It's January, it's Liam Neeson, it's Jaume Collet-Serra owning a niche like nobody's business. I'm not sure if this is actually better than something like Non-Stop or if I've just been completely won over at this point, but I had a blast watching this in a theatre. It's terse, with a typical but compelling hook, full of twists and turns, ridiculous and nonsensical CGI spectacle at one point because why the hell not, and Liam Neeson cashing a paycheck like a boss.

Also, multi-track drifting.

A++ would do it again next January.

Nothing has changed much for a Collet-Serra joint since I wrote of Non-Stop as "Everyone brought their A-games except the writer." Well, except The Shallows becoming my favorite from the director because its elemental premise forces much of the usual convoluted silliness away from his pleasing direction. This is my second or third favorite of his though, about on par with House of Wax (I mind silliness way less when it's slasher genre). The setting here allows for a wider range of his superbly directed set-pieces, an eclectic cast of colorful characters, and a nicely grounded vibe. Plus it opens with what will probably remain among my favorite sequences of the year, a stunningly cut evocation of decade-long family normalcy, to be treasured and fiercely guarded later on when threatened. 6.5/10

Yeah, that opening sequence was pretty clever. I chuckled when I saw that Mike D'Angelo had watched it recently, stopping to post about the scene on twitter before going back and watching the whole movie (he has this thing where he samples movies, watching the first 10 minutes of random stuff just to see if anything piques his interest, which I'm guessing is how he stumbled upon The Commuter of all things; and he rated it a rather charitable 54!).