My Review: Non-Stop (6/10)

"We're midway across the Atlantic. How do you kill someone in a crowded plane and get away with it?"

That is the same question I asked myself before going into this new Neeson thriller. The premise sounded a bit silly, but the trailer had me at Liam Neeson. I will watch any action film he stars in nowadays. Neeson plays a very similar character in every one of these films (Taken, Unknown, The Grey) and they simply should've made a franchise with all these movies similar to what they did with James Bond or Mission Impossible so people will stop complaining he plays the same role (and at least this time there is an excuse for his Irish accent). Non-Stop is a fun mindless action film as long as you don't stop and analyze the plot. For the most part it really worked for me because Neeson delivers and keeps your mind off some of the plot holes, but once the final act arrives there is not much he can do to save this film. The final ten minutes are a huge let down and it almost ruined all the fun I was having during the rest of the movie. I still enjoyed this film more than Neeson's previous collaboration with director, Jaume Collet-Serra, Unknown. The cast is strong enough to carry this film past all the plot holes, and I'd rather see Neeson in a mindless action thriller over pretty much any film that has been released this year. 

Non-Stop is John Richardson and Christopher Roach's first film screenplay which stars Liam Neeson as Bill Marks, an air marshall who is going through a depressive and alcoholic stage. What appears to be a routine flight from New York to London ends up being a nightmare for Bill as he begins receiving threatening messages on his secure phone line. The message states that a passenger will die every 20 minutes unless 150 million dollars are transferred to a specific bank account. Bill decides to talk to the other air marshall, Hammond (Anson Mount), who tries to calm him down by telling him it has to be a prank. When 20 minutes go by, Bill realizes this is no prank and with very few people on the plane he can trust he has to enlist the help of the flight attendant, Nancy (Michelle Dockery) and the person sitting next to him on the plane, Jen Summers (Julianne Moore), to help him locate who the terrorist might be. 

The premise might be a bit silly, but for the most part I was still enjoying this thriller thanks to the interesting cast. The action scenes were also entertaining and for a movie that takes place almost entirely in a plane it was engaging. If you aren't demanding a film with logic, you might enjoy this mindless action film as much as I did. It's a shame that Lupita Nyong'o didn't get a heavier role because she proved in 12 Years a Slave to be a very talented actress. In this film she doesn't get to do much, but it's OK because we get to see Liam Neeson doing what he does best for most part of this film. The way its audience receives the weak final reveal at the end is probably what makes the difference in this action thriller. It is very far fetched, but as I mentioned above, it is much better than most January or February releases. I enjoyed this film because despite it not making any sense it was still an engaging and fun ride. The truth of the matter is that Neeson is the one that holds this film together and doesn't allow it to crash.