Film Review – Non-Stop

Director – Jaume Collet-Serra

Starring –  Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Scoot McNairy, Michelle Dockery, Lupita Nyong’o, 

Synopsis – An air marshal springs into action during a transatlantic flight after receiving a series of text messages that put his fellow passengers at risk unless the airline transfers $150 million into an off-shore account. (provided by IMDB.com)

(there could be spoilers)

REVIEW 

Sometime in 2008 we all heard Liam Neeson speak those words, you know the words, the ones that end with ” I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you”. Not since Matt Damon turned badass in the Bourne series had I seen a great actor deliver lines and believably kick ass. Although it appears that since that turning point Damon has been better at choosing the new found scripts coming his way than Neeson has.

So lets start with the script, as this B-movie thriller does have a solid premise that kept me interested for the most part of the run time. In truth though its not down to cleverly written characters outwitting each other, its down to a lot of red-herrings being thrown on the screen and a series of events held together in the hope they look like a clever master-plan. Talking of red-herrings even now I don’t know why, for example, we get to see characters like Lupita Nyong’os air stewardess, who just randomly disappears/appears on a flight, even though everyone only seems to be only in two compartments of the plane.

I will admit though that despite all this I thought it was good silly fun, that is until the final act unravels and the mastermind is reveled, At this point it dropped down a notch and made me question all the circumstances running up to it, and believe me you will find yourself questioning the circumstances in the plot.

Non-Stop sees the director Collet-Sera re-team with Neeson after their previous film “Unknown” and in character Bill Marks they manage to tick, not one or two but all the stereotypical traits a character would have in these films. Ok here goes has a dependency on alcohol (tick that box), divorced (tick), personal tragedy (tick) and scared of flying (massive tick) to name a few. Neeson is still the best thing in this movie but in truth you spend the whole time hoping for a memorable line or quote but it never happens.

VERDICT

Its no “Taken” but then again even “Taken 2” wasn’t. Hopefully we can go back to Liam Neeson getting better character driven scripts and not wasting his big screen talent.

RATING

Please feel free to comment below if you have any opinions regarding this review or film.

5 STARS = EXCELLENT

4 STARS = VERY GOOD

3 STARS = GOOD

2 STARS = POOR

1 STAR = TERRIBLE