Non-Stop (2014) [Blu-ray]
Action | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline: The Hijacking Was Just the Beginning

Global action star Liam Neeson stars in this action thriller played out at 40,000 feet in the air. During a transatlantic flight, U.S. Air Marshal Bill Marks (Neeson) receives a series of cryptic text messages threatening to kill a passenger every 20 minutes unless $150 million is transferred into an off-shore account. With the lives of hundreds of passengers hanging in the balance, Marks must use every nuance of his training to uncover the killer traveling on the aircraft. Co-starring Julianne Moore (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1), Michelle Dockery (TV's Downton Abbey) and Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave).

Storyline: 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.

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown on May 29, 2014 -- "Thrilling and intense," screams Non-Stop's cover art. "A taught, suspenseful thriller in the vein of Hitchcock," raves a random Midwestern critic trying much too hard to achieve poster-quote fame. Adding, "with an ending you won't see coming!" Is Jaume Collet-Serra's Non-Stop thrilling? Sure. Intense? You bet. Suspenseful? Absolutely. Hitchcockian? In many ways, yes. Strands of its DNA are ripped straight from the Master of Suspense and, for a while, it sorta, kinda, almost works. (Squinting and staring at the script sideways helps too.) Stop, pause or take a breath, though, and it all starts to unravel. And good God, don't for a second actually devote any thought to anything that happens on screen. For all its turbulent twisting and turning, the film is a gripping but brainless pileup of plot holes and impossible leaps in logic that gets less and less plausible as it hurtles toward its ludicrous endgame. Collet-Serra not only goes to inhuman lengths to make every passenger, flight attendant, air marshal and pilot a suspect, he manufacturers tension with increasingly contrived tricks of the genre trade, only to burn it all to the ground with a ridiculous third act that shows something akin to contempt for any good will its audience has invested.

During a seemingly routine transatlantic flight from New York to London, burned-out veteran U.S. Air Marshal Bill Marks (Liam Neeson) begins receiving a series of cryptic text messages threatening that a passenger will die every twenty minutes unless $150 million is transferred into an off-shore bank account. With the lives of hundreds of passengers hanging in the balance, including that of Jen Summers (Julianne Moore), one of the only people he can trust, Bill must draw on all of his training and skill to uncover the identity of the killer traveling aboard the aircraft.

Non-Stop is as frantic and busy as it is exhausting. Sideways glances, shifty passengers, suspicious faces, questionable motives, claustrophobia, a ticking clock, an abundance of cell phones (each with too-good-to-be-true service), and a devious plot to frame Marks as the terrorist mastermind conspire to make Collet-Serra's slowburn, 40,000-feet actioner a sweaty, jittery misfire of modern suspense. Hanging more than its hat on post-9/11 anxieties, the film fancies itself much smarter and savvier than it really is, falling back on small but sleek spectacle and cheap sleight of hand whenever it's struggling to deliver. It's noisy but never quite resonates. 'Splodey but rarely explosive. Familiar and derivative, even at its most clever. Big Dumb Fun without the self-awareness to realize it isn't a high class thriller. But it would be passable -- exhilarating perhaps -- if it weren't for the third act. The jump-the-shark revelations surrounding the film's true villain are so misguided and silly they're downright anticlimactic. Despite the potential Non-Stop toys with in earlier scenes, the ending out-Shyamalans Shyamalan with a bone-headed *gotcha* twist that bursts into flames long before it crashes. Even those who haven't checked out before the last twenty minutes will have difficulty suppressing the urge to laugh in utter disbelief.

But I suppose that only applies if you're the type of filmfan itching to examine narrative, story structure or plot developments in any meaningful way. Switch off your critical cortex, shove your hand in a bowl of butter-slathered popcorn and pretend Non-Stop's script is meant to be as blustery as it is and you won't be quite so disappointed. (Quick test: did you enjoy Robert Schwentke's Flightplan? Are you game for a weirdly similar experience? Then look no further, this one's for you.) Neeson, Moore, Corey Stoll (House of Cards) and a few others accomplish a lot with very little, despite a host of supporting actors who were apparently paid to do little more than scowl, stare menacingly and rouse suspicion. Neeson in particular continues to settle into his role as Action Movie New God nicely -- even if his collection of lone hero thrillers is getting a bit ungainly -- and his brains-over-brawn search, aisle by aisle investigation and eventual mid-flight fisticuffs are, if nothing else, exciting to follow. But Neeson's prowess can only pull Non-Stop out of the muck, it can't clean it up. Beyond some of the performances and a handful of admittedly well-executed action beats and extended stretches of tension, it's a bit of a muddy mess bound for the bargain bin.

Action movies are a dime a bullet these days, which makes a suspense thriller like Non-Stop a promising prospect. Methodical and meticulous, it aims to be a brainy, Hitchcockian actioner, heavy on mystery, cloaked identity and shocker upon shocker; a who's-doin-it with nerve and, indeed, a flash of firearms near film's end. Instead, it's yet another misguided movie in February blockbuster's clothing. Liam Neeson is a strong presence, backed by an equally effective Julianne Moore, but the story and script are pure style over substance, with a third act that defies plausibility and a reveal that's as unbelievable as they come. What little enjoyment there was quickly drained away, leaving a hollow husk of a laughable twist few will accept, much less embrace. Fortunately, Universal's Blu-ray release helps alleviate some of the inevitable disappointment with an excellent video presentation and an absorbing DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. There isn't much supplemental content to speak of, but so it goes. Is it enough to make Non-Stop worth a rent? Why not? I'm sure some Liam Neeson fans will even find enough forgiveness in their hearts for Non-Stop's flaws to enjoy the ride. Just a little advice: don't stop to think about the plot -- or rather the plot holes -- for very long if you want that enjoyment to last.

[CSW] -3.4- The suspense starts early and does not slow down or get boring. It seems to build as you the viewer try to figure out the who, what, and why, as the where is always inside the airplane giving it a claustrophobic atmosphere. Suspects both abound and seem to get eliminated in the great who-done-it style. Things go from bad to worse as the Air Marshall figures out that said person is framing him and the authorities on the ground blame the Air Marshall for the hijacking. The acting is solid and the plot is not obvious. A film like this (action, popcorn flick) requires suspension of disbelief, but the mystery keeps you in intimately involved. Who is framing the Air Marshall and why? I won't say anything about the ending as that would spoil the fun but although it might snap your suspension of disbelief a bit it will not spoil the mood. This is a charming throwback - a movie to simply watch, enjoy, enthrall at and second guess at, in its popcorn munching clichéd but genre defying action.
[V4.5-A4.5] MPEG-4 AVC -D-Box 10/10.


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