Non-Stop

Starring: Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Scoot McNairy, Michelle Dockery, Nate Parker, Corey Stroll, Lupita Nyong'o, Jason Butler Harner
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Mystery, Thriller
2014

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An air marshal (Liam Neeson) begins receiving threatening text messages that claim they will start murdering people on the plane unless millions of dollars are transferred to an offshore account.

Review:

Tim: I have to admit, when I saw the trailers for Non-Stop, I thought to myself, "Oh great, another generic Liam Neeson action movie." It's funny how Neeson shot to fame as this older action star, but has started to experience a little bit of movie fatigue, as he's rolled out quite a lot of these action movies in only a few years. Luckily, my initial concerns were mostly unfounded, as this is a solid, entertaining thriller. No, it's not nearly as good as it should be, but it was still enjoyable and I movie I had fun watching.

I tend to like movies set on airplane because of the claustrophobic environment that adds tension to the story. This movie gives us an interesting premise- an air marshal gets text messages threatening to kill a passenger unless he's given money. When passengers start to die, you'd think that it would be fairly obvious to find the killer, as there's not a lot of places for him to hide on an airliner. The movie does a good job of throwing a series of unexpected twists and turns at us, which keeps us guessing about who the killer is. At various points in the film, I thought it was several different characters. I really like when movies keep me on my toes and Non-Stop did a fairly good job in this department. When the killer is finally revealed, it was a little disappointing, but still, it kept me guessing and I really appreciated that.

Liam Neeson has always been a very good actor and it's fun to see him bring his talent to a film like this. He certainly elevates the story with his strong performance. I also liked the addition of Julianne Moore. She's a strong actress and gives a good supporting performance. The rest of the supporting cast is good, too, made up of people who could be the killer or could be innocents on the plane. The movie really keeps you guessing.

Now, as the movie progresses, it does ask more and more of the audience. A thriller on an airplane almost always requires some suspension of disbelief. It's a tight space. Movies like Turbulence easily strayed into ridiculous territory, partially because the planes are depicted as being so much more spacious than most planes. This movie mostly keeps things realistic until the end, where the incredulity factor starts to increase more and more. That isn't a fatal flaw, but it certainly impacts the believability of the entire film.

Non-Stop is an intelligent thriller that did surpass my expectations. However, it never really delivers anything special or incredibly memorable. This really isn't a great movie. However, it does deliver a few fun thrills and unexpected turns. This is certainly a serviceable movie and one I enjoyed watching.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Unknown, Taken, The Forgotten, Turbulence