Unknown (2011)

Effective but unoriginal Liam Neeson vehicle, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. 

A professor (Neeson) has an accident on a work trip to Berlin. After he wakes up from a coma four days later, he has to prove his identity after no one recognizes him – including his own wife. Then another man claims to be him.

It’s engrossing if you don’t ask too many questions about the plot and if you don’t mind key elements of the story appearing to have been borrowed from the Jason Bourne films.

Non-Stop (2014)

Highly enjoyable thriller about a Federal Air Marshal (played by Liam Neeson) who finds himself on a flight with a hidden killer who threatens to murder a passenger every 20 minutes. But in an exciting twist, the killer manages to frame the Air Marshal so that it is he who is suspected of being the terrorist.

Neeson is easy to like as the heavy-drinking, down-on-his-luck Bill Marks. Julianne Moore, always worthwhile, is also appealing as the woman he sits next to and finds an unexpected connection with.

The action scenes are superbly handled by director Jaume Collet-Serra – fluid and real-looking, but with a bright, clean hyper-reality about them. I also like the way the phone texts are displayed on screen as words floating in the air. It’s imaginative and a lot more interesting and convenient than repeatedly showing close-ups of a mobile phone screen.

It’s not perfect. The criminal rationale, when explained, seems far-fetched. The title is generic and could apply to any thriller. And Neeson being chummy with the little girl veers on sentimental tough-guy-with-a-heart-of-gold cliché. But there’s still easily enough excitement and drama to keep you hooked to the end.

The Commuter (2018)

Former New York cop Michael MacCauley (Liam Neeson) has taken the same daily train in and out of the city, morning and evening, for 10 years. On the day he loses his insurance job, he is approached by a stranger (Vera Farmiga), who recruits him to commit a crime in exchange for money. 

This is a taut action thriller directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who also made 2014’s Non-Stop. In fact, it’s quite similar in many ways: Neeson confined to a speeding vehicle while needing to solve a mystery to save his own life – and the lives of others. 

It’s both silly and exciting, and it keeps you guessing to the end. Sam Neill is underused as a police chief, and Elizabeth McGovern is underused as MacCauley’s wife.

 Neeson looks really old. He was about 65 at the time, and seems increasingly unlikely as an action hero by this point. But he does have charisma and there’s something compelling about watching him yet again work his way out of a fix.