Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

The Commuter

(UK, USA, 2018)

Bang-bang chop-socky shoot-‘em-up pictures starring Liam Neeson, the world’s most elderly action star, can be engaging, in spite of their sheer improbability. We enjoyed Taken, because it was tense and well-made, and stayed just within the knife edge of possibility. He was 56. Then they made Taken 2, when he was 60, and it slid over into the land of impossibility, but we still sort of enjoyed it. Then he turned 62 and made Taken 3, which was reviewed so badly that we haven’t bothered. Now he is 66, and gives us this one, and I have to say, it’s time to hang it up, dude. This one starts out okay (as so many action films do) and then degenerates into such wild improbabilities that I really didn’t care what happened.