Non-Stop

Plot: Air Marshall Bill Marks (Liam Neeson) is getting threatening texts from a passenger on a trans-Atlantic flight. He tries to hunt down the bad guy, but as the body count rises, he is suspected as being the terrorist himself. All the characters with speaking parts become suspects at some point.  [imdb]   [photos]

Review:  Bill Marks has a lot of problems including lying to everyone and drunkenness. As the terrorist begins to make threats and Marks learns what is going on, Non-Stop is an engaging whodunit. Later, the not-so-bright Marks tries some interesting ideas to catch the bad guy, but gets outsmarted. This leads to the best part of the movie, where we wonder whether he both a schizophrenic killer and a sky marshal at once.  The last part is noisier and louder with more violence in the aisles, but less interesting and more predictable. The climatic ending has a particularly stupid rescue that wrecks the moment.

Liam Neeson plays a dim-witted cop, but big hearted cop pretty well. No problem with his performance. Julianne Moore plays a self-absorbed, but ultimately friendly passenger for Marks to talk to. Michelle Dockery is engaging as the head stewardess. 

Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o has a bit part as a stewardess. I am sure she'll be getting bigger roles soon. 

The soundtrack was fast-paced, orchestral music -- OK, but nothing special. Visually, all the scenes are inside an airplane.

Cast: Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Michelle Dockery, Lupita Nyong'o.

Directed by: Jaume Coliet-Serre

Rating: 2 stars, but still recommended for a boring March weekends

 

More: Real life flight attendants were not happy when Liam showed everyone how to disable the lavatory smoke detector -- not funny because a fire in the bathroom could kill people. 

<<MINOR SPOILER>> Even More: Turns out there really is something called the Least Risk Bomb Location.  Its location varies from plane-to-plane, and the flight attendants are trained to locate bombs there and pack in the luggage around it. Also, Liam chose the wrong location, it would have been on the opposite side from the exit, and the bomb is not placed directly on the floor. 

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