Taken meets Flightplan. If that doesn’t sound like a
great premise for a film then I don’t know what is, and it’s the central idea
at the heart of Non-Stop, the mid-air
action movie starring Liam Neeson essentially playing the same character as he
did in the aforementioned 2008 film and its sequel; the troubled, gun-toting
grouch with a habit of punching people who threaten children. That being said,
it’s a role that he carries with a certain degree of finesse and believability,
his gruff, gritted teeth delivery lending a level of suspense and darkness to
the story.
Sadly the same cannot be said of the supporting cast, the
usually brilliant Julianne Moore feeling more like a filler character with very
little to do, and Lupita Nyong’o – who has just won an Oscar for her role in 12 Years a Slave – is hilariously
miscast as an air stewardess with perhaps four or five lines throughout the
entire film. Other members make some decent, if perfunctory effort with what
they’re given, Scoot McNairy giving the slimmest indication of the promise he
displayed in Killing Them Softly.
The plot of the film follows air marshal Bill Marks (Neeson)
as he attempts to uncover a plot taking place aboard a flight from New York to
London, where an anonymous source contacts him and demands $150 million dollars
be placed into an account, otherwise they will kill a passenger every 20
minutes. When the bank account is later revealed to be Marks’ own, he not only must
he face down the killer but also race to clear his own name. Neeson’s ability
to handle this role sadly cannot distract from the fact that the set-piece of
grabbing a passenger, punching them a bit, then questioning them gets extremely
repetitive by the third suspect, despite the flinch inducing thumps.
This is not to say that the action is completely
meat-headed; there is at least some attempt to make some kind of investment in
Julianne Moore’s character and a small girl travelling alone on the flight (who
is also subject to an absolutely ridiculous stunt in the climax of the movie).
Once the suspect is revealed the solid B-movie action kicks in and the rest of
the film romps along at an enjoyable pace and the film as a whole doesn’t
over-stay its welcome, touching down at a snappy 100 minutes.
So if you want a fairly middle-of-the-road actioner with one
or two good set pieces and some decent, if perfunctory performances, then Non-Stop is probably the way to go.
3 Star
3 Star
