He may have left it a little late in the day to become an action hero, but after following the success of Taken with Unknown, and, yes, Taken 2, there’s no denying that people want to see Liam Neeson starring as a moody, gun-toting, bad-guy-killing, action man, and here, in Non-Stop, he does nothing if not deliver.
Though while many people may have hoped for another all-action, story-shy, shoot-em-up, thankfully Non-Stop delivers so much more; starring Neeson as a moody, untrusting, Federal Air Marshall named Bill Marks, it takes place almost entirely onboard a trans-atlantic flight from the US to London where, trapped in a confined space with no leads but hundreds of potential suspects, Bill has to investigate a suspected hijacking, and attempt to take down a terrorist who’s threatening to kill someone on board every twenty minutes unless his demands are met, all while having no idea who’s behind it.
Constantly aware of the passengers and his surroundings (something solid direction hints at during the film’s opening), Bill’s suspicions are first raised when he starts getting texts (from someone who clearly knows far too much personal information about him), and he then begins to try and pinpoint the culprit, and stop anyone from dying, without alerting anyone on board; a brilliant set-up, thanks to not only the intimate setting, and the way in which Marks’ personal problems see events turning on him, but the fact the bad guy here is unknown, and everyone in the audience is spending the majority of the film playing a wonderfully executed game of whodunit.
Neeson isn’t that different here to how he’s appeared in a number of action movies (Taken and Unknown being chief amongst them), but there’s nothing wrong with that; he’s a great actor, strong, stern, believably obsessive and determined, and also appears vulnerable when needs dictate; he delivers time and again, and is both a believable and worthy action hero we love to watch.
The supporting cast also deliver; whilst Julianne Moore may be looking a little old nowadays (especially to pull off essentially the same character she played in Assassins 19 years ago), she’s usually a solid inclusion, has a strong working chemistry with Neeson, and never falters as one of the scared passengers, and likewise Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery is acceptable (though a touch wooden) as the rather generic flight attendant Nancy.
In fact most of the characters are fairly clichéd; you’ve got the annoying businessman (Nate Parker, Red Tails), the apparent “it-must-be-him” Muslim (Omar Metwally, Rendition), scared white guy (Scoot McNairy, Argo), shifty white guy (Corey Stoll, The Bourne Legacy), pilot (Linus Roache, Batman Begins), co-pilot (Jason Butler Harner, The Taking of Pelham 123), and the out-of-touch man-on-the-ground (Shea Whigham, The Wolf Of Wall Street), as well as the difficult to place one (Hell On Wheels star Anson Mount; who delivers a brilliantly off beat performance), and other typical renditions, though not a single character or performance feels out of place as everyone here has been perfectly cast, and the script deals with the events, and passenger and crew reactions to events unfolding, perfectly.
Non-Stop picks up and maintains an excellent pace throughout, and never lets up; it may be set in a pretty enclosed location, and heading towards a two hour runtime (actually clocking in at more like an hour and three quarters), but the film just seems to fly by; at the very beginning you’re wondering what’s going on with Marks’ personal life, and the second he boards and starts getting those texts, it just grabs you and doesn’t let go; as soon as you’ve pinpointed the terrorist, the blame shift, then again, and again, and each time you think you may be in for a rest something else kicks off. Meaning Non-Stop really lives up to its name as a Non-Stop action thriller.
Far better than his last effort for director Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown), Liam Neeson’s latest is a Non-Stop thrill ride, and fantastic from take off to landing. Sure it’s got clichéd characters, a number of viewers are bound to say it’s predictable (though were probably kept guessing themselves for quite sometime), and is similar to a number of things we’ve seen before, but somehow this seems fresh, different, better than a mindless shoot-em-up (it actually makes you think and keeps you engaged), and one slightly over-the-top shot aside, is actually fairly believable. Fast, fierce, and a flight you’ll definitely want to board; go and watch Non-Stop; you won’t be disappointed.
Matt Wheeldon – @TheMattWheeldon.
Non-Stop was viewed in The Regent Cinema, Newtown.
