Movie Review: Non-Stop
Liam Neeson seems to have made himself a stereotype, but it's a stereotype that works: he's just plain good at being in action movies. Non-Stop is no exception, and it's a fun ride (no pun intended) until the very end of the film.
Bill Marks (Neeson) is an air marshal who has stumbled upon rough times lately. He's an alcoholic who had a sick child, and he's on a six-hour flight to London. As soon as the flight takes off, he gets a text message over the plane's secure network saying that every twenty minutes, someone on the airplane will be killed, unless he wires $15 million to an offshore account. Marks immediately tells the pilots and crew, but it turns out the bank account is in HIS name; which, of course, ruins his credibility. The only people Bill trusts on the plane are the crew and Jen (Julianne Moore), who was sitting in the seat next to him when he got the first text. Bill must now figure out who is sending the messages before more people die, and the answer might be surprising.
This movie was action-packed and will keep you guessing until the end - it's a bit of a whodunit combined with an action thriller type of vibe, since you can't get off the airplane once its mid-air. My guess as to who the culprit was kept changing throughout; at one point I suspected several different passengers, at another maybe even the pilots or flight attendants. Neeson is very good at playing these types of roles, like I mentioned above (Taken and Taken 2 are prime examples of this), and him plus Julianne Moore do well here. Lupita Nyong'o (who has an Oscar nomination for 12 Years A Slave) has a very small part here as well, with maybe four lines maximum, so I wonder if they filmed this before 12 Years, when she wasn't as famous.
Yes, see this movie. I'd recommend it for anyone who likes a good mystery and/or an great thriller. It's interesting to see how the tables slowly start to turn on Neeson's character, and what the passengers decide to do about it as well ... it's interesting to think about what you would do if you were ever in a similar situation, as well. I wouldn't even mind seeing a sequel to this film although I'm pretty sure there won't be one - but you never know.
Non-Stop is in theaters today, February 28th, and is rated PG-13 with a runtime of 106 minutes. 4 stars out of 5.