Neeson Month: Mini Review - Non-Stop

This may be a little belated but we have one more review for Neeson Month

And that’s Non-stop.

Released in 2014, Non-Stop was profitable, earning $200m on a $50m budget and earned critical praise, although with a few provisos which I’ll get into because, trust me I have some words about it, and speaking of, let’s begin.

Off duty airline Marshall Bill Marks is on a flight to his home of NY when he receives a strange text, demanding $150m off the airline or someone will die every 20 minutes. Against the clock and with few allies to turn to, Bill must find the highjacker or everyone on the plane will suffer, but his mannerisms and personality paint a different picture and soon people are believing he’s hijacking the plane.

There are a couple of things this reminds me of. First, it’s a thriller movie set on a plane, guess what other movie I’ve reviewed is that? OK, so Snakes on a Plane is a lot lighter in tone and Samuel L Jackson commands more authority than Liam Neeson but there are certainly similarities. It also kinda reminded me of the episode Midnight from Doctor Who. Which is widely regarded (though less so by me) as one of the best episodes of the Russel T Davies era. The cast slowly turning against the Doctor, with people not being aware of what’s going on is very similar to how things play out in this movie. Although I will say Bill Marks gives the passengers more reasons to be suspicious with his ruthless streak.

And I guess it kinda reminds me of RPG as well as there is a promise that someone will die every 20 minutes and it’s a race to discover information before you end up dying. Much like in that movie, the deaths aren’t necessarily down to the person behind it all.

Look, I am not the biggest fan of thrillers as a genre, I find them largely tedious or uncomfortable to watch, I guess to an extent that’s the point but this doesn’t entice me to a movie. That said, Non-Stop is a good movie, but I won’t go further than good. The first thing this gets right is the characters. They aren’t as stock as Snakes on a Plane, which helps the deaths be less predictable, even if there are fewer of them.

For example, we find out later on in the movie that Jennifer Summers, one of the prominent characters who had provided some assistance to the investigation, turns out she has a heart condition which could potentially kill her at any time. You could argue that was obvious shadowing to her dying but she actually survives the movie, although that might be because she was also the love interest.

The characters have some memorable qualities to them, we remember the NYPD Officer for being an idiot and demanding to know what’s going on when he knows that could cause mass panic. The actor you might not remember played Yellow Jacket in Ant-man. We also have the school teacher, the hacker, the kid flying alone, the banker, and of course Fahim Nassir, the Doctor that conveniently is aboard the flight but actually does nothing of consequence.

OK, so the movie has a decent build up but man is the payoff disappointing. Not in levels of excitement but more the motivations of the villains. You see, the main villain is the teacher, he’s mad about 9/11 and decided the best thing he can do is hijack a plane, wait what?

OK, there’s a little more to it than that, he wants to prove that little has changed in terms of airport security since 9/11, when he lost his wife. And he has an accomplice, the hacker, who says this is all the interests of protecting his country. OK, that’s a load of bullsh*t but let’s say I buy it, why the charade? You had the means to blow up the plane, why not just blow it up, why the stupid 20-minute death thing?

Again, there is a reason, he wants an Air Marshall to be blamed but this raises a whole new set of questions as every move made in this requires precise timing and for him to have planned everything out. The problem, Bill, his Patsy, was only going to be on the plane last minute. If he wasn’t on the plane, this plan couldn’t have worked! And for you to be steps ahead, you’d have to know him inside out and there’s absolutely no indication that he does so. This plan makes no sense and is extremely stupid.

So after some stuff happens involving science I’m not sure about, they manage to land and the guys on the ground find that Bill is not a criminal immediately, despite being the prime suspect while they were in the air. Hey, how about someone actually testify on his behalf or something? All we get is a news report which at best would’ve been a few hours later

It’s a good film but let down but a lacklustre ending.

Rating 60/100