Non-Stop

Non-Stop - Dir. Jaume Collet-Serra (2014)

"If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it…But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."

"I'm Martin Harris…I didn't forget everything."

"I'm not hijacking this plane. I'm trying to save it!"

Despite entering into his 60's, Liam Neeson has remade himself into one of Hollywood's premier action heroes. Standing at 6'4, Neeson certainly possesses the physicality needed to be a believable ass kicking machine. Years of dramatic experience has given him the credibility and gravitas that many of his compatriots lack. He'll need every bit of those talents for Non-Stop, a movie every bit as ridiculous as Neeson's last couple efforts Unknown and Taken 2.

Neeson is Bill Marks, a Federal Air Marshal who has descended into alcoholism following the death of his daughter and the dissolution of his marriage. Marks is in the last place he wants to be, a non-stop international flight from New York to London. Things only get worse when he receives a threatening text message that someone on the plane will die every twenty minutes unless $150 million is transferred to their account. The mysterious mastermind has it all figured out to the point that for every step Marks takes to protect the passengers, the more it looks like he is the one hijacking the flight.

The screenplay, credited to John W. Richardson, Chris Roach, and Ryan Engle, is filled with plot twists, each one more unbelievable than the rest. In spite of all the plot holes and logic gaps, Non-Stop never experiences explosive decompression as director Jaume Collet-Serra (who previously teamed with Neeson on Unknown) knows how to ratchet up the tension. Collet-Serra frames his close-ups and medium shots to accentuate the claustrophobic feel of being trapped in a flying metal tube. Text messages appear as pop-up graphics to ensure the audience isn't just watching people stare at their phones. The action is perfectly adequate with Neeson bulldozing through opponents with the same martial arts blows he's previously employed. He doesn't leap into the air while firing two guns at once, but he does fly through the air and catches a gun as the plane rapidly descends.

This is a finely tuned whodunit and there is no shortage of suspects. The filmmakers wisely filled the supporting cast with tremendous ensemble and no single person stands out as the obvious villain. There's Julianne Moore as a friendly frequent flyer, Corey Stoll from House of Cards as an NYPD officer, Nate Parker as a tech expert, Scoot McNairy as a school teacher on his way to Amsterdam, Anson Mount as a fellow air marshal, supermodel Bar Paly, and Linus Roache as the captain. Plus, you have Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery fame and recent Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o as flight attendants though the latter only gets a handful of lines. Top it all off with a freckle faced little girl to really lay it on thick.

Non-Stop isn't exactly thought provoking cinema. It is an entertaining action flick and if you've enjoyed Liam Neeson's other offerings, this is an easy recommend.

Rating: *** (*****)