The most important thing you take into battle, is the reason why. (12 Strong 2018)

176.

12 Strong

8/10

This movie is based on the real stories of the horse soldiers based in Afghanistan, which were sent out straight after the September 11th attacks. With a cast of Chris Hemsworth in the lead, Michael Shannon and Michael Pena, there a few familiar faces to help fans be drawn to the cinema. I didn't see too many trailers for this movie, so I'll be going in pretty blind and not knowing too much of the story. I do enjoy true events and real stories, so I could get into this one, as long as it doesn't go overboard. Could this be strong, or as bad as 12 Rounds?

Hemsworth plays an Army Captain, named Mitch Nelson, who recently moved into a new home with his family, just as the attacks in New York take place. He heads straight into office and volunteers to lead his old team into combat. Michael Shannon's character, Spencer, was due to retire and he also volunteers to go. After all the goodbyes, the team sets out to Uzbekistan to meet their Commander, who tells them that they are to fight alongside a Northern Alliance leader in the main attack. After heading in, riding a helicopter, hidden through the mountains, they meet up with their new allies and after being tested by this leader, half of the team leave on horses, towards the mountains. Dostum, the Alliance leader, wants to retake a city, which is critical to the war effort. After a few battles, Nelson accuses Dostum of not caring for the lives of his men. Dostum gives a speech about how his men are willing to die for his country and American's unwillingness for sacrifice means that they don't really care about the country. The soon become allies again, with the leader telling the American of how he lost his family during the civil war. Back in the other camp, Spencer leaders the remaining 6 up into the mountains to support the team.

We see plenty of action, guns, air support and even tanks, as the team make their way to the city that they need to take. There are trying to close trading routes and cutting off the supplies to the enemies, as best they can. After all of these tactical victories though, things take a turn. Dostum finds out that another team is support another Northern Alliance leader, who is Dostum's main political rival and after finding this out, he and his men abandon our team. Following this departure, Nelson decides to carry on with the main plan of stopping the supply routes to the main city and help the other leader to take the city. As they are in the mountains, they are set upon by snipers and one by one, they take injury or die. Ever the ones surrendering, are carrying grenades as one final assault on the Americans. Spencer is badly injured by the explosion, just as Dostum returns to fight with his allies and kill the enemy leader, repelling the Taliban forces. Dostum even meets with his rival and they peacefully shake hands. Spencer is medevac'd and the team head home after spending 23 days in combat. As the film draws to a close, we see a picture of the real team that this movie is based around.

The movie was really enjoyable, even gripping at times regarding the action scenes, especially the final fight. Each character seemed to bring their own unique qualities to the screen and the actor portraying them, done so very well. I don't know exactly how accurate this went along with the main story and there are complaints that the writers didn't really go into what the war was about too much, mainly focusing on the American side of things. It does take a little while to get into the fighting, with us being introduced to everyone and travelling into battle, but I suppose that if it wanted to tell the story of these men, we needed to know where they came from. Overall, the interesting fight scenes and seeing gun shots on horseback, was something that I haven't been able to truly witness before and knowing that these men actually done this, it is hard to realise that they received no hero's welcome, as this operation was mainly a secret and remained untold, until now.

Early Man United. Another joke for you there (Early Man 2018)




175.

Early Man

  

6.5/10

Nick Park has made his way back onto out screens after years of success from Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run. This time, we are set in the Prehistoric ages and from the trailer we can guess exactly where this story is headed. A small tribe, stuck in the Stone Age, are about to be set upon by a Bronze Age city. A football match will decide who wins this, because who wants a massive army being killed in a children's movie. The cast for this are pretty high end, with Tom Hiddleston as the main villain, Eddie Redmayne as our main character and Maisie Williams, fresh from some success as Arya Stark, as the main female. Chucked together with plenty of side characters, let's see if this can evolve into a good movie.
The movie begins with a quick explanation of how this tribe's valley was created by a massive asteroid, covering the cavemen that lived in the area, until they dust themselves off and find, the now small asteroid, which it too hot to touch. They start playing 'hot potato' with it, until one kicks it. Once it has cooled down, they realise how fun it is, soon adding goal posts and rules, leading to the invention of the game of football. Flying through the decades, the tribe still live in the area, with the crater being the only fertile land in the surrounding area. Dug, played by Redmayne, is a young caveman, who hears in mammoth nearby. He heads to wake everyone up and we are introduced to the rest of the tribe, who are far from a decent bunch and even their chief doesn't fancy them against a mammoth, so they stick to rabbits for now. Dug tries to convince him that the tribe are capable of more, which leads the chief into taking Dug to a hidden cave, where paintings show their tribe enjoying football, but these days, they are completely forgotten about the game. The chief thinks that these paintings are of the tribe chasing small prey, not a ball and that's what they should stick too. Once they catch it, they celebrate around a fire that night, until something begins to interrupt them. There is a sound of heavy footprints and as the tribe hide, a mammoth covered in armour reveals himself from the trees. He is soon followed by two others coated in bronze, the two 'drivers' don't seem to care about the cavemen running about. The tribe tries to escape in time but Hognub, Dug's pet boar is barking at these intruders and he heads back to rescue him. As the chief heads back for the two, he sees a huge tree fall in their area and assumes that Dug, along with his pet, are killed.
Once Dug re-emerges from the fallen branches, he sees a pompous leader, descending down from a mammoth. Lord Nooth, played by Tom Hiddlestone, is the governor of the nearby Bronze City. He points out the bronze ore within the stones at his feet and instructs his men to start the digging. When he is asked about the natives, he simply answers that the stone age is over and they will soon die out. As Dug hears this and obviously becomes wound up, he grabs a spear and flies from the trees in attack, being taken out by a wrecking ball and landing, unconscious, in a wooden cart. Hognub returns to the tribe, mourning his fallen friend, as the tribe try to make do in the Badlands. We can see the way that this story is going pretty early. They are going to try and win their land back and use football as the means for competition. Dug meanwhile, is carted back to the city, where he wakes, pretty much in shock at everything new to him. So many people, buildings, bronze and no grass in sight, yet. The place is perched high, above a pit of lava and Dug disguises himself with a blanket and does his best to fit in. People are selling their wares on stalls, with little jokes such as someone buying sliced bread, which is new to them, as the character tries to use the saying, ' the best thing since... well ever', knowing that we use sliced bread as the end of the sentence. He comes upon a bronze stall, where a girl named Goona, played by Maisie Williams, shouts at him for touching her wares. He soon follows the ground that are being led by a loud horn and he finds the hollow turf. He is led into a stadium, where he didn't pay to enter, which turns into a chase as the guards are after him. he ends up in a shower room and steals someone's clothes as a disguise, before trying to retreat and being grabbed by others in the same kit. He's led onto the pitch as a team mate and stuck between the sticks. He is obviously seen as an intruder once the play starts and is exposed by the real goalie. Nooth is angered by a caveman in his sacred turf and wants him killed, slowly, which ends up with the stupid guards leading him away in slow motion, which is not what he meant. Dug steals a spear and sticks it throw the football, declaring that Nooth's men should leave his land alone. He challenges him to a football game for the right to have his home back. Nooth realises that he can make more money through the match and accepts, but only with one condition and that's if Dug's team loses, they would have to work in his mines. Dug is granted one football to train with and heads back to his tribe, who are overwhelmed to see him. He tells them of the bargain and soon their smiles fade, as they don't even know what football is.
Dug shows them the paintings and people soon get on board, but the chief doesn't and with good cause, the tribe are shit. One attacks a giant duck, which steps on their only ball and the chief wants the game called off, knowing that they don't stand a chance. Dug even thinks about it, before looking down on his home and he can't imagine not seeing it again, so he decides to sneak back to the city and steal some more balls. There, he ends up seeing someone playing on the pitch at night and they are pretty decent. It's that bird from earlier, Goona. Her dream was to play for Real Bronzo, but now her chance has come and gone as Nooth wants only male players. Dug tries to make a deal, that if she helps the tribe train, she can play on their side. They steal the balls, just as the guards make their way to them and chase them out of the city. Meanwhile, the Queen has gotten in touch with Nooth, declaring this match as a terrible idea. she threatens him with his job if they lose but the only thing he cares about is the loss of revenue. Dug introduces Goona to his tribe, who sets her sights on making this tribe a team. She explains that if they are a team, they will have the upper hand, as Real Bronzo see themselves as individuals. They need to get this team to turn on each other and they may stand a chance. The train intensifies and they even use the surrounding area as best they can. Nooth's miners finally find the hidden cave and the paintings shake Nooth's confidence. He even gets another dressing down from the Queen but as he looks more into the cave, he finds something that he can use against Dug, to call off the match. He gets his men to kidnap him and bring him underground. The further paintings show that the tribe gave up playing, mainly because other tribes were learning the game and constantly beating them. I know that feeling mate. He whispers one more deal for him and his tribe, before leaving Dug down in the mine to think it over. All this little caveman can think about, is his tribe being whipped and enslaved. He decides that he cannot risk his tribe's freedom, so heads to accept Nooth's offer. His pet runs to get the chief, brings him to the new paintings and he then realises what Dug is about to do.
In the arena, the crowds are overflowing to see the match. Nooth is charging double for entry, which people hate, but he is loving. The Queen has even arrived, sitting in Nooth's throne and making him stand for the match. Nooth, is fairly confident that he has gotten in Dug's head and the deal will be struck. Dug turns up and tries to forfeit and offer his solo service to the mines and everyone is disappointed, even more so when they are told that there are no refunds. Suddenly, there is a loud roar as that huge duck shows up, bringing the tribe in, who are refusing to back down. The Chief is fully on board and is leading the charge in goals. Dug is given a new lease of life and takes back his surrender and on we go. The Brutes take the lead and Bronzo equalise and with a captain's call, Dug demands his team rise to the occasion. Goona even scores and the team lead once again. The crowd are starting to turn and recognising this female player as their own, they begin to cheer. Once Nooth finds out that it is a girl, he goes to argue the fact, before noticing that the Queen hates him discrimination and instead threatens his own team with death. Real Bronzo have started to turn on each other, but continue playing, before Nooth decides enough is enough and makes an excuse to head down onto the pitch and knocks out the ref, putting himself in his place. This then leads to dodgy decisions and the Bronzo lot kicking the shit out of the cavemen. Even the crowd are disgusted, along with the Queen. A last-minute penalty is given, to the outrage of everyone except the ref and Real Bronzo. Chief gets injured and is carried off and Hognub is put in goals, saving the penalty, to the delight of everyone, even the Queen. The team break and Dug scores the winner and once the match is over, the teams even shake hands, with the Bronzo team declaring that they had a tough match. The Queen declares that the cavemen have reminded everyone what the sport is about. Nooth sets his sights on the chest of money, just before making a break for it, but is upended by the Duck and arrested by the Queen's men. She presents the team with the trophy and the orders them to leave the arena and return home.
A while after, a new painting has taken place in the cave and it's of the victory. Goona has decided to live with the tribe, bringing with her some bronze to use as hunting tools. They head after a shadow, that looks like a mammoth, but leg it when it roars and it turns out to be the rabbit at the beginning, which had escaped during the commotion. As the film draws to a close and the credits roll up, we even see that the Real Bronzo team have befriended our cavemen and join them in the celebrations that follow a successful hunt.
You have to go into this movie knowing that its main audience will be youngsters but at the same time, if you're a football fan, there is also some hidden ideas. It is a good feature film for any lovers of this kind of stop-motion animation and getting some many talented actors on board, only emphasised how serious this lot were about making this movie. It had a decent, but maybe a bit too predictable storyline. The humour does come think and fast at times, point out jokes that, due to the timeline, wouldn't even make sense for the characters but do for the viewers. They were also simple enough for the younger viewers to understand them too. The kids can be enthralled with their viewing and the idea that you should never give up something worth fighting for but when it comes to sports fans, there could be an underlining meaning towards the end. As the Queen mentions that the match had reminded everyone what the sport is about, it can be linked with real life. The Real Bronzo team seem to be most high paid players these days, only caring for their own image at times and that is why the fans love the story of the underdog. Overall, this movie was no Chicken Run by any means, but it was still pretty enjoyable.

Thomas. You can save your friends. or you can save us all (Maze Runner: The Death Cure 2018)

174.

Maze Runner: The Death Cure

 7/10

The final instalment in the Maze Runner series comes with the name 'Death Cure', instantly giving us thoughts about whether the virus that is creating zombies, will finally get treated. That's if you have already seen the other two instalments, which were pretty ok. The trailer gives us a little bit of information, dealing with our main character facing a choice that he could either save his friends, or the world, along with showing plenty of action and some decent stand-offs, which are always a main feature of a finale. Let's see if this ends with an escape to the trials that the gang has been put up against, or if the movie will be a virus to the series.

Thomas, played by Dylan O'Brien, Newt and Frypan, are the last of the 'Gladers' from the first movie, which are still together, free and immune. Against the orders of their group leader, Vince, they set off to free their friend, Minho, who is being tortured by the organisation, WCKD, who are looking for an immunity from the virus, within these youngster's blood. After a decent attempt, they end up picking up the wrong trailer and although they free plenty of kids, their friend is still in enemy hands. They trio end up heading to the last known city, which WCKD occupy, knowing that their friend would be there. On entry, they have to go through an underground tunnel and we all know how this is going to end. They are set upon by 'cracks', the zombies and are saved by two other members of their group, who have followed them, Jorge and Brenda.

They finally make it to the wall of the Last City, which is huge and protects the place from Cranks. Outside, people are protesting to be let in, leading to WCKD opening fire on them, cleaning most of them out with explosives. We have already seen on the walk in, some men on a truck, wearing masks and heavily armed, taking quite an interest in Tom. In the commotion, our gang is captured by some masked assailants and are bundled into the back of a van. As they are driving to a hideout and thrown out of the van, I can guess straight away that one of these guys is someone that we thought had died at the end of the first movie. It is, it's Gally, who the left to die after he turned on the group. He takes them to see a guy called Lawrence, the rebellious leader who has caught the virus but is treating himself somehow, but still, he looks like a kind of character from Fallout. He grants them permission to head into the city, through his secret passage and Gally leads the way to a vantage point, where he spots Teresa in the WCKD headquarters, seemingly enjoying her work. Gally suggests that she is the one who can gain them access to the building and to Minho. They use Thomas as bait, on her walk home from work and as she follows, they all capture her and she finally agrees to help them. She even treats their wounds and is shocked to see that although Thomas was infected, he has fought the virus easily.  

Thomas, Newt and Gally take her in, disguised as the security and they head into the main rooms that are contain the youngsters. Gally stays to free them and also to get into the vault for the serum, which was the deal with Lawrence for letting them use the tunnel in. The other three head to find Minho, who has been moved for more torture. They are caught and chased by a vengeful Janson, who is played by the same guy who plays Little Finger in A Game of Thrones, so you instantly recognise him as a prick. Teresa lets them escape to find their friend but also takes some of Thomas's blood as she locks the door on him. She runs to test it before anything else. Gally has gotten the serum and takes the immune children to a bus that Brenda has stolen, while he makes his way back inside to help the others. The WCKD forces close in on the bus before Frypan picks them up with a crane and manoeuvres them outside of the city wall. Back inside the building, Teresa has found out that Thomas's blood can cure the virus and heads to share her discovery with the leader of WCKD. The lads have found Minho and are trying to get him out of the building by means of forces but are being shot at from all angles. Teresa needs him alive but they chuck themselves out of a window and into the fountain below, somehow surviving, although it doesn't seem too deep, for the height they have fallen from.

Outside of the city, Lawrence has gathered his forces and begin to blow their way through the main gate, bring the fight to the streets with plenty of explosion along the way. The police surround the lads but one turns out, yet again, to be Gally who shoots the others and the begin their escape on foot. Newt, who has been bitten from a previous movie, is finally starting to be overcome with the virus and gives a pendant to Thomas before passing out. As the gang are heading to be picked up by Jorge in an aircraft, Teresa comes over a speaker system in the city and asks Thomas to return, telling him that he can save Newt. Newt has now become aggressive and is asking his friend to end his life for him, before he has fully turned but when Thomas refuses, Newt uses his last moments to stab himself and end the transformation with death. In his own rage, he heads back to WCKD to confront everyone and have revenge. He confronts the leader, Ava, who claims her intentions are always good, that's until she is shot in the head by Janson, who has been bitten and is now turning into a Crank himself. He knocks Thomas out and drags him to a lab, where Teresa is waiting to take his blood off him, knowing he is the main cure. Janson, makes the massive mistake of admitting that he is only really interested in curing himself. This leads to Teresa turning on him and after a fight, Janson ends up dead, allowing the last two to escape. So, she is finally good again? This bitch doesn't half change her mind. Teresa carries Thomas to a rooftop, where they are getting picked up by the rest of the gang and as she chucks and injured Thomas onto the craft, she hands him the vial with the cure, before the building collapses beneath her and she falls to her deserved death.
The full group finally reunite with the rest of the immunes from near the beginning of the movie, escaping to a safe haven, containing some decent looking beaches, huts and a kind of freedom that they would only dream of. Thomas pretty much keeps himself away from everyone, who are receiving a talk from their leader, who reveals a massive rock on the beach that he wants everyone to carve a name of a fallen friend or loved one into, so that they aren't forgotten. Thomas looks at the pendant that Newt gave him, finding a note inside that she wrote when he knew he was turning. He tells Thomas to look after everyone and he is a hero. Thomas finally gets up to write a name into the rock. That name is Teresa.
It turns out that this movie was in complete jeopardy after an injuring to the main actor and that it may not have been released. I'm actually glad that they got around to releasing it in cinemas, even if it wasn't the greatest of series, it was still a fitting finale. We've come to know the characters now through the other two movies, so there isn't too much of a surprise, apart from one constantly switching sides whenever she felt like. It ties up every real loose end that we are looking at, with the deaths of the evil characters and most of the good ones making it to safety. There were some powerful scenes, as a best friend asked the other to kill him rather than be killed but some of the other storylines may have been drawn a little thin. As always, I have never read the books to be able to compare them to this movie but for me, it was quite enjoyable. It has action, special effects, a little bit of zombie and a happy ending.

All this anger man, it only begets greater anger (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 2018)

173.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

 

 

 

  

8.5/10

 

 

Another major contender in the Oscar's and one that walked away with a Best Female and best Supporting Male Oscars, in the shape of Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell. This was an Odeon Screen Unseen, which I had missed through work, so the wait was on to see it at its main release date. After some good feedback from the lads who had seen it, I was looking forward to seeing what this was about, after being impressed by the trailers. Woody Harrelson is also within the cast, along with Peter Dinklage and Caleb Landry Jones, who seems to be popping his uncomforting face up in many places recently. Let's see if this one was worth all of the hype, or one that should have stayed in Missouri.

McDormand plays a grieving mother, whose daughter had been murdered and raped, just over half a year earlier. Her main anger comes from the local authority's lack of progress within the case. She rents three billboards, hence the title and set three questions on them. These ask the ultimate question as to why nothing has been done. They upset the town's people and especially Chief Bill Willoughby, played by Harrelson, who is personally named on the third billboard. Officer Jason Dixon, played by Rockwell, is also offended on behalf of his friend Bill, but is also a racist and violent alcoholic, so is pretty much offended by everyone and everything. The open secret that Bill suffers with terminal cancer also adds to the fire. Mildred Hayes and her son Robbie are set upon with abuse, but to her principals, she keeps the boards up. Although the Chief is sympathetic towards Mildred, he finds the billboards an attack on his character and very unfair. In an attack at her, Dixon threatens Jones' character, who rented her the boards and also arrests her friend from work on a trivial marijuana charge. Mildred is also visited by her ex-husband who is an abusive fella too. He blames her for the death of their daughter, just as his new, young girlfriend strolls in. Mildred's money is coming to an end for the billboards, but some secret person has decided to pay the rental for another month, on her behalf.

A few days later, Mildred is dragged downtown after injuring her dentist, who decided to confront her during her operation, so she drilled a hole into his hand, before walking out after spitting mouth wash into his face. During the interview, Bill coughs up blood, clearly showing his cancer getting worse, before going to the hospital and spending a day with his wife and kids down at the riverside. That night, he writes a letter and takes himself up to the barn, shooting himself in the head. One letter apologises to his wife for being such a coward and another letter is for Mildred. He explains that she is no way connected to a reason for him to end his life and he was the actual person who paid for the extra month of billboards, thinking it to be funny. Thinking that she will get more trouble, but mainly because it will keep everyone's eyes on the case. When Dixon finds out about the death, he reacts by chucked the rental guy out of his upstairs window, crashing into the concrete below. This is witnessed by Bill's replacement, and African-American named Abercrombie, who fires Dixon on the spot.

The billboards are destroyed one night but arson and Mildred decides that it's her turn, throwing Molotov cocktails into the police station, which she thinks is empty at night. It isn't though and Dixon is in there reading a letter than Bill left him. He is told to let go of hate if he is to become the Detective that he wants. He escapes the station with Mildred's daughter's file and suffers severe burns, ending up in a hospital room with the guy he launched out of the window, who he ends up apologising to. Mildred is given an alibi by one of her admires, played by Dinklage. In exchange for his help, she accepts an offer of a date from him. In the meal, she bumps into her ex-husband again, who makes fun of the pair, obviously sighting Dinklage's height. He admits to burning the billboards, to which she doesn't know how to react, except to tell him to treat his 19-year-old girlfriend right. Back to Dixon and after his release from hospital, he sits in a bar, overhear some guys chatting about an incident that seemed the same as Mildred's daughter's murder, almost bragging about it all. He starts a fight with the main guy and scratches his face, before being completely battered. He crawls home and take the DNA from underneath his fingernails, placing it into a bag for testing.

Abercrombie tells Dixon that the DNA did not match the scene for Angela's death and the guy was away on military duty at the time. He is confused by this, not realising that the guy couldn't have committed the crime anyway. Still, his instincts tell him that this guy is guilty of something and heads to tell Mildred the bad news. The two, in a turn out for the books, create a tag-team and head to this guy's home in Idaho to kill him anyway. On the way, she confesses that she burnt down the station, but he knew all along and never held it against her. The both express doubt about their new mission, but continue driving anyway, deciding which action they will take, until the film fades to black.

This is such an entertaining movie, that, at times, leaves you confused on who you're actually supporting. With a run time of just under two hours, it has the ability to keep you gripped throughout, as the loyalties and friendships chop and change throughout, constantly keeping the dialogue fresh, along with each scene. There is a lot of swearing, mostly coming from Mildred, which adds humour to a very tense and serious storyline, which only helps the movie. The acting, needs no more discussion, as everyone performs on the top of their game, showing, finally, with the winners at the Oscars. The story contains plenty of twists and turns, which gives each character an opportunity to reveal surprising parts of their personality, different from the first time we would have been introduced to them. It's hard for me to find a negative about this film, maybe the fact that it's a little far-fetched or that a way to grief is to commit more felonies, but that would be just nit-picking. After watching the Oscars and seeing The Shape of Water win the best film, it simply adds to more disappointment that the winner wasn't this film, or at least not The Shape of Water, this was a lot better. 

This train's freaking me out! (The Commuter 2018)

172.

The Commuter

 

 

  

8/10

 

 

Liam Neeson gets back onto the screen in front of me for his last action film, which turns out, won't be his last action film. This time, is doesn't take place on a plane, there's no moment of boat warfare, or even a little bit of car chase. Instead, we are treated to a movie set aboard a train. Every film that I have seen Neeson is before, may well have been a kick ass movie, but at the same time, it has the regular occurrence that we know who the main suspect is every time. Is this going to be a movie that we wish was 'Taken', or taken away from us altogether?

Liam Neeson plays a 'normal' commuter, who takes the train to work every day, speaking to the usual other commuters and spending time with his wife and son, before even making it to the train station. Funny thing is, when he gets on the train that we are spectating for his life, shit is about to go to pot. Michael, Neeson's character, works as an insurance salesman, who is being laid off on the day we meet the guy. He heads to a pub, where he meets his mate, a police officer named Alex Murphy, played by Patrick Wilson. Wilson is a major character in the horror franchise that I love, The Conjuring movies and he is married, in these movies, to a woman played by Vera Farmiga, who we have already seen in the trailer. Is there something behind the scenes or what?! Alex was a detective, around the same time as Neeson's character, MacCauley, who is a ball ache to type, so will remain as Neeson. The two ex-partners meet and chat about how they don't like a fellow colleague, Hawthorne, played by Sam Neill. It seems pretty weird that Sam Neill would play a part role, so there's more to come from him. He even comes over to talk to the ex-partners, trying his best to integrate. Alex believes that that gang are all corrupt and in it together and because he doesn't choose to be, he is an outcast in it all. On the train home Michael MacCauley is joined at the seats with a woman named Joanna, who is played by Farmiga. After a friendly chat, she starts to ask him weird questions about the type of person he is, before revealing that there is a compartment in the train's toilet, with a bag containing $25,000. She tells him that he can have it as long as he finds someone under the name 'Prynne', before the train reaches its last stop. Just as she leaves, she even hints that she knows he needs the money and the fact that he used to be a cop.
He sounds finds the money and decides to take the option up of finding this person on the train, who doesn't belong. After a while, he attempts to leave the train but is stopped and handed an envelope that contains his wife's wedding ring. He tries to ring her, but gets no answer, moving on to try and get a message to his fellow commuter that we have already met once. He writes on his paper, telling him to phone the police, but once this man gets off, he is pushed in front of a bus by an unknown assailant. This leaves Michael no choice, but to track down Prynne. We see him going from carriage to carriage with no luck, looking at everyone who doesn't belong and even asking little questions. Usually, the person they are looking for ends up being someone we caught a glimpse of and the camera ended up elsewhere. Michael thinks that he has found the person, so plants a tracking device on their luggage, before ringing his cop mate, Murphy and explaining the situation. Murphy tells him that Prynne is a lead witness in a massive case and will likely be killed if found. They witnessed a suicide and is set to be stopped by these people or put into witness protection. Michael breaks the air-con, moving everyone into one carriage, as Prynne reveals herself as a young girl, after Michael had gotten an innocent man killed. Prynne's real name is Sofia and when Michael asks about the fact that she didn't go to the police, she answers with the fact that it was the police who killed that guy and it wasn't a suicide.
Joanna gives one final call, for him to kill Sofia, which he refuses so she sets of an explosion to derail the train as it heads towards a curve. Michael, doing the most Liam Neeson thing he could do, climbs outside and unhooks the final and full carriage, to give them all more of a chance. It finally comes to a stop and the police surround them, thinking that Michael is holding them all hostage. They send Murphy in to talk to him and once everything pans out, it turns out that Murphy is the killer that the witness recognises. There is a fight and Michael takes the police identifier from Murphy and keeps it on him, causing the snipers to believe that Murphy is the target, getting him killed and leading to the freedom of the passengers. They all leave, as Sofia walks over to the FBI and explains everything that went on inside the train. Sam Neill's character comes over to Michael, telling him that they have watched Murphy for a while now, even offering him a job back but Michael only worries about his family. A few weeks later, we see Joanna sitting down on a train, as Michael sits opposite her, revealing his badge, just as the movie ends. He's back on the force.
This wasn't your normal Liam Neeson films, that may have gotten a little too much now. This time, I didn't know who the real bad guy was until right at the end, which still ended up being a surprise, as many guesses would have been elsewhere. This could also be the same for guessing who Prynne would be. There was plenty of action and some good fight scenes, which have pretty much become the norm for a Neeson movie. It is by no means a classic and I didn't rush back for a second viewing, but at the time, it was some good escapism and a decent action movie. It all ended with a massive, over the top train crash, which only added to the character of this type of movie, which ended up being a decent trill-ride, but not totally derailed.