NON-STOP

  

Liam Neeson plays an alcoholic former cop who's now a U.S. Federal Air Marshal who lost his child from cancer and got divorced by his wife. On a Non-Stop flight from New York to London, Neeson gets a text message on a secure phone from a mysterious terrorist on the plane who plans to kill a person after every 20 minutes until he gets a sum of money transferred to a specific bank account. The clock is ticking and Neeson must find the terrorist on the plane. However, the passengers think that Neeson is a terrorist hijacking the plane. Alright first off, I really admire the set up and was indeed completely hooked on the film from beginning to end. I was really interested on who the terrorist is and how Neeson was going to outwit him as well as being timed in the process of solving the mystery. The suspects on the Plane could be any of them. It could be the woman played by Julianne Moore who's sitting next to him, it could be the Muslim Doctor, it could be one of the Flight Attendants, it could be the Pilot, it could be someone that Neeson met at the Airport, it could be the other Cop on board, heck it could even be the scared little girl. It just keeps you guessing and guessing until who the terrorist is. It's a really solid set up for an action mystery film.

Liam Neeson as the hero is ok, just ok. I think he's a really great actor and for the most part does put charm, emotion and likability to these types of characters but here, I honestly didn't feel any of that. His bad past and his behaviors of dealing with it weren't treated as effectively as it should have been, it just feels there to give the character a background and a past. I know Neeson can sell a performance like that out but I feel like the film didn't give enough for him to work with. In films like "Gravity", "First Blood", "Die Hard", Tim Burton's "Batman" and even "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" for that matter where we meet a character that has a bad past but is only revealed in dialogue and sometimes shows a small flashback of that past worked because the actors not only were invested into their character but also because the writing and direction gave them enough to work with.  I know the little girl he takes care of on the Plane is suppose to symbolize his love and relationship with his daughter but there's very little of those scenes between him and the girl and those scenes in general just feels like it's there to a complete a story ark to the character that the writers just threw in to once again just give him a past. Even the scenes where he drinks, smokes and is scared of take offs feels dully played out and unemotional. While having a forced in back story and feels like Neeson mostly gives only one emotion and expression throughout the film, he at least wasn't as boring and dull as Qui Gon Jinn in "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace". Again he's a good actor, I just didn't enjoy him much in this film.



The character and performance I was more interested in the film was Julianne Moore as the person and love interest sitting next to Neeson in the film. I'm serious I actually did find her more interesting than our main character. While finding her suspicious from time to time like every character in the movie, she's still interesting and the performance is really really good. On top of it, she has a bad past too and surprisingly the performance and the writers pulled it off better than Neeson's back story. Some of the things that she does in the film does lead up to a good pay off that connects to her past and her acting in the scene when she tells Neeson her back story while feeling a bit rushed she still is able carry out the characters pain and emotion. The rest of the people on the Plane while being suspects and at times turning against our hero are still interesting and likable characters that you'd honestly wish to learn more about.  I could talk about a few of them but then you'd probably guess who isn't the terrorist. I will say this about the villain, while the twist caught me by surprise the villain wasn't as interesting as I hoped The reason and what this villain stands for did bring a bit controversy, nothing major just a few complaints. All I'll say is, it does involve 9/11 and if that already sounds offensive than I don't blame you for being offended by it.

 

The cinematography does give you that claustrophobic feeling of being on the Plane with a terrorist on board which really made me feel more drawn into the film along with it's story. I also like that we see the text messages appear on the screen as the hero is texting than just look at the phone for every few seconds to briefly read the texts from both Neeson and the unknown terrorist. The action is pretty cool like that slow motion shot of Neeson shooting somebody but at the same time those scenes are kind of hard to see or appreciate do to it's extremely fast edits, shaky cams and obvious CGI effects. Yes a suspension of disbelief like in every action film is highly required for this film, epically during the climax and if you can do that than you will enjoy the thrills that the third act has to offer. I'm not saying the film doesn't have plot holes or things that are not explained later on, it does. Like how our villain knows that our heroes been smoking in the bathroom for example is never explained. I'm honestly not sure if more viewings of the film will answer some of the questions you might have about the film or keep you in the dark.

Overall while it's no action masterpiece or thriller masterpiece for that matter, I still think it was ok. Yeah this isn't one of Liam Neeson's best performances, the acting at times feels very rushed epically during key moments in the film, there are plot holes which I'm not sure will answer our questions from continuous viewings of the film, the filming and editing feels clumsy at times epically during it's action scenes, the pay off to our villain felt a bit poor and offensive and if you are expecting this to be a realistic Plane thriller movie that doesn't reacquire a big suspension of disbelief than the film is not for you. With that said, I was still entertained by this movie and my interest in the plot never stopped. Will I see it again, I suppose but at the same time I think one viewing was enough for me but I guess if I saw it on TV if I was bored or if a friend wanted to watch it with me, I wouldn't mind seeing it again at all. I will say, it is indeed worth at least one viewing.

RATING 2/5