Liam Neeson’s special set of skills equally apply in the air I guess. Non-Stop takes the action star of the moment and puts him in a Hitchcockian type thriller. While there are obvious plot holes and little character development, Non-Stop succeeds because it is an effective thriller with a very solid supporting cast of character actors and a good Neeson at the movie’s center. Plus it has the best airplane bathroom fight scene that will probably be filmed.
Bill Marks (Neeson) is a tormented US Air Marshall with a heart of gold; you know he is tormented because he drinks, and he is a good guy because he helps scared little children. On a flight across the Atlantic, Marks receives texts on his phone from an unknown caller who says he will kill a person on board every twenty minutes for $150 million. However, it becomes clear to Marks that there may be a more nefarious plot going on besides money. In addition, there are lots of possible suspects, including “trusted” flight attendants (Lupita Nyong’o and Michelle Dockery), The red-head who switched seats to sit next to him (Julianne Moore), and several others.
When focused on the search for the perpetrators, Non-Stop ripples with tension. The use of text messaging is key here: it keeps the screen silent and keeps Neeson from growling and barking into his phone. Plus everyone has a phone, so everyone is a suspect. The claustrophobia of the plane is used effectively; as the search goes on, panic and paranoia can be seen amongst the passengers. Surrounding Neeson are familiar but not too familiar character actors making it hard for the audience to see who is behind the screen. Moore, Dockery, Nyong’o, Scoot McNairy, Nate Parker, Corey Stoll, Linus Roache, Anson Mount, and Omar Metwally all are recognized faces, making it hard for the audience to lock down right away the big reveal. In addition, the screenplay does a great job creating situations to suspect everyone, clouding the picture further. I genuinely was surprised at the end result, a hard trick to pull for even the best screenplay.
Non-Stop does not stand up to intense scrutiny however. In fact, there are several examples of questionable choices that threaten to derail the thriller. Neeson begs for help several times after it is clear he looks guilty and people just succumb to his will. When he has a chance to shut down the cell network and flush out the texter, he chooses to keep the network open. Neeson keeps the whole flight in the dark for a very long time; they take forever to become suspicious of Marks’s motives. However, the end is where the story falls apart. The motive for the hijacking is downright ludicrous; it would have been better to just have motivationless evildoing be the reason a la the Joker in Batman. Also, the media gets wind of a hijacked flight and finds out Neeson is the suspect, but when he leaves the plane, not one police officer arrives to arrest him. Non-Stop does a great job showing Neeson earn respect of the fliers; it would have been nice to see them stand up for him and eliminate an obvious plot hole.
In the end though, the story is fun enough and Neeson kicks enough butt in the third act that Non-Stop earns the price of admission. It is never boring and paces itself very nicely, just like this review. If you were paying attention hard enough, you will notice I left a clue to solve Non-Stop’s whodunit. Good luck, and remember the skies are now safer with Liam Neeson up there.