Non-Stop *** (2014, Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Scoot McNairy) – Movie Review

Liam Neeson stars as Bill Marks, a troubled, hard-drinking US air marshal who boards a transatlantic flight and soon gets a series of text messages from an unknown fellow passenger that other passengers will be killed one by one unless the airline transfers $150 million into an off-shore account. Somehow bombs and guns have gotten onto the plane, with a lack of airport security that so makes you want to travel by boat instead.

With his phone messaging bad news Non-Stop, Neeson springs into action single-handedly. But, when he finally needs help, can he trust or rely on passengers and crew like Julianne Moore’s Jen Summers, Scoot McNairy’s Tom Bowen, Michelle Dockery’s Nancy, Nate Parker’s Zack White, Lupita Nyong’o’s Gwen, Omar Metwally’s Dr. Fahim Nasir, Shea Whigham’s Agent Marenick, Anson Mount’s Jack Hammond or even Linus Roache’s Brit pilot David McMillan?

Non-Stop is a very considerably entertaining action thriller, keeping up its dynamic pace and gripping tension throughout. It plays like one of those old Seventies disaster movies, like Airport (1970), so you expect a cast of old-style Hollywood star names. But, even with Julianne Moore, this cast has a B-movie feel, and so does the film itself, despite a fairly lavish $50 million budget.

Hopefully Neeson managed to negotiate a fair chunk of the budget for his own pocket, because he has the film more or less to himself. In many ways, he is the film, giving it the acting weight it doesn’t really deserve but actually needs. He’s the rock solid centre of it, full of conviction and courage.

The script’s OK, but it’s full of holes and loose ends, so it’s Neeson who continually comes to its rescue, plugs its gaps and saves it. Of course the B-movie cast are chosen to be expendable and also to disguise the identity of the passenger on board who’s delivering the death threats. And that works entirely well.

The script brings in a family cancer issue and alcoholism problem for Neeson’s character that it just doesn’t need, making it a bit soapy in places. But it’s not a problem. Mostly it just sticks to the action. And that is indeed commendably Non-Stop, which is mighty hard to do all in the one space of the plane’s interior.

The climax when it comes is spectacular, but somehow it’s also a bit obvious and a let-down, not to mention totally unbelievable. And the revelation of the villain is a bit of lame anti-climax. But that doesn’t matter at all. It’s all good fun. And Neeson and Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan, 2009) manage to keep the film flying fast and high throughout.

© Derek Winnert 2014 derekwinnert.com