Non-Stop (2014) – Review

Neeson plays another government agent in Non-Stop; this time he is an Air Marshal. Bill Marks is on the job, on a run of the mill six hour flight to London, or is it? What we know for certain about Marks, is that he’s an alcoholic, with unresolved family issues. The thing that Marks needs right now is a wake-up call, and he gets one. Well, it’s a text message, but you get what I mean. The messages that are received are from a fellow passenger, and they instruct Marks to get $150 million into a numbered bank account or people will start to die. The unknown assailant tells Marks that a passenger will die every 20 minutes until the money is in the account.

Without going into any spoilers, the movie plays with the next twenty minutes quite well. However, the way that the rest of the events unfold are chaotic, but they also have a touch of beauty to them. This comes from the flight attendants, Nancy and Gwen (Michelle Dockery and Lupita Nyong’o), both of whom add desperation and some sensibility to a nonsensical movie.

There is a time in the movie, where the anonymous attacker could be anyone, including Marks himself, and it jumps from passenger to passenger. One of those passengers is Jen (Julianne Moore), whom at the beginning of the movie is trusted right away by Marks. The building tension between Marks and the fellow passengers is immense. So much so, it could bring the entire plane down.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra does well to make you second guess everything you see. No matter what you are told, there is something else going on. Even when you think you have everything figured out, you are quickly shot down with your assumption. I know I was. There is nothing more fun, then taking an average B-movie and adding Neeson to the mix, he brings believability and even more badassery to the role.

The final action sequence of the movie, culminating after the big reveal of the texter, tries to be poignant and serious but unfortunately comes up a bit short. There are some good shots and moments during this sequence, but those moments are more fun than serious. With a title like Non-Stop, you would think there would be non-stop action; but alas, there is only action half of the time.