Monday, 5 Action, 9:00pm
Jaume Collet-Serra’s The Commuter (2018) is the sort of film that takes an ordinary situation—one man’s daily train ride—and dials it up to Hitchcockian levels of paranoia. Liam Neeson, in his now-customary role as an everyman with a very particular set of skills, plays Michael MacCauley, an ex-cop turned insurance salesman who gets caught in a sinister conspiracy aboard his evening commute. With a mysterious stranger (Vera Farmiga) offering him a morally dubious proposition and a train full of potential suspects, things rapidly spiral into a high-stakes game of survival. The film is slick, tense, and packed with all the over-the-top action one expects from Neeson’s late-career renaissance as cinema’s favourite beleaguered action hero.
The soundtrack, composed by Roque Baños, is a masterclass in orchestral suspense. Baños, known for his work on Don’t Breathe and Evil Dead (2013), crafts a score that blends propulsive strings, ominous brass, and electronic pulses to mirror the film’s escalating tension. The rhythmic urgency of the music perfectly matches the train’s relentless motion, creating a sense of inescapability. There’s a subtle nod to Bernard Herrmann in the way Baños builds anxiety through repetitive motifs, reinforcing the claustrophobic atmosphere. For soundtrack collectors, the score is a hidden gem—less showy than the bombastic action scores of Hans Zimmer or Lorne Balfe, but deeply effective in its own right.
Despite its pulpy premise, The Commuter delivers a satisfyingly taut thriller, elevated by its moody, nerve-jangling score. While the film itself didn’t break new ground, Baños’ music ensures that every twist and turn carries real weight. If you’re a fan of suspenseful, kinetic soundtracks, this one deserves a listen—preferably while staring out of a train window, wondering if that stranger sitting opposite is about to change your life forever.
- Paul Allen