After Liam Neeson’s exploits in The Grey, Unknown and Taken, it’s beginning to seem like the actor is carving out a specific ‘winter action movie’ time slot. His latest genre picture, Non-Stop, is a fairly run-of-the-mill effort that falls apart in its final act, but is elevated slightly by a few nifty camera tricks and the work of its star.
Bill Marks (Liam Neeson) is a paranoid, alcoholic ex-cop turned TSA security agent on a trans-Atlantic flight to London. Not long after the plane departs for the UK, our hero begins to receive mysterious text threats that demand 150 million dollars be transferred to a specific bank account. Even worse, someone on the plane will be killed every 20 minutes if the ransom is not paid. Of course, there’s a plane full of suspects that include passengers (Julianne Moore), a stewardess (Michelle Dockery) and a co-worker (Anson Mount). As a panicked Marks investigates, his aggressive approach also raises suspicions from others on the plane about his own motives.
Scenes very early in the film suggest a more personal approach to the material. Marks is pained, angry and going through some sort of personal ordeal. It’s an interesting approach and one that effectively projects a sense of deep pain. In fact, Neeson performs it in such a way that it causes the audience to question the sanity of the lead character. Little background information is given about the hero and passengers on the plane. This lends sinister implications to some otherwise innocuous moves and glances, sustaining interest.
There’s some clever photography on display as well. The camera moves a great deal within small confines, often floating over seated passengers from one aisle to another. Also impressive is a particular scene that plays with a typical action film convention in an interesting way. It involves a violent struggle in an extremely enclosed space between two of the characters that showcases some nifty choreography and tight camera angles that help it really stand out.
Although there are some perks, flaws also become apparent as the movie progresses and events become more exaggerated. While suspense is generated by not knowing the history of others on the plane, some of these characters come across as broad caricatures. And the threat itself isn’t the most plausible in the world. Considering the thriller is set in such a tiny location, it’s a bit impractical to think that a criminal master plan could be pulled off without detection. Just thinking about all of the variables that one would have to predict and correctly account for in order to pull things off makes it all seem increasingly unbelievable. By the climax, any hint of the more somber and serious tone suggested earlier evaporate with some over-the-top shenanigans.
Ultimately, Non-Stop is quite silly and certainly qualifies as B-movie fodder. Yet Neeson possesses the gravitas to sell the material, at least until the film’s final third. If one is willing to shut off the brain and forgive the goofy genre conventions as they are gradually introduced, the end result is an agreeable, if forgettable, little action picture.