The Commuter

Liam Neeson turned into your-dad-as-action-hero almost a decade ago in "Taken" and has been delivering middle-class retiree rage ever since (he's also continued to do actual acting roles in other movies, but these are the ones that have paid the bills and got the most attention). "The Commuter" continues this approach with him as an ex-cop insurance agent whose daily commute seems somewhat regulated, right up until the day when something changes and he ends up getting an offer he wasn't expecting and one he finds difficult to refuse - to track down an extra passanger that a mysterious someone wants to locate. Of course there's a whole conspiracy involved and of course Liam will prove essential in breaking it apart, saving the innocent and beating up the guilty before the film is done. Also there's the opportunity for some wild fights, chases and stunts on his way to resolving everything.

This is fairly familiar work but it's not particularly hideously executed. The supporting cast is fairly solid - if most of the passengers are two-dimensional "types", they're at least clear and deliniated, and have a part to play in bringing things to a conclusion. Neeson is extremely middle-class-underappreciated-white-guy, whose backstory even includes a reference to the financial crisis and Goldman Sachs for a bit of political relevance. The conclusion begins to feel massively unlikely and the vaster conspiracy probably doesn't make a great deal of sense, but in the moment it's an effective enough action-thriller.