Non-Stop

One thing you can say for a suspense thriller film is that it could be a mediocre script, and as long as the pacing is decent, it just leaves the audience biting their nails until the end. We've seen this in so many films, such as all the disaster films back in the 70s, specifically "Airport" '69, which kicked them off. Since then and with the advent of computer visual effects, the sky's the limit in how much Hollywood can keep us on that seat. Another nail-biter to add to that list is "Non-Stop".

While this suspense thriller is played out at 40,000 feet in the air during a transatlantic flight from New York to London, U.S. Air Marshal Bill Marks (Liam Neeson) receive a series of cryptic text messages demanding that he instruct the airline to transfer 150 million into an off-shore account. Until he secures the money, a passenger on his flight will be killed every 20 minutes. Marks tries to tell the other air marshal, Jack Hammond (Anson Mount), but he doesn't believe him, so he finally recruits flight attendant, Nancy (Michelle Dockery), another flight attendant, Gwen (Lupita Nyong'o) and inadvertently involves passenger, Jen Summers (Julianne Moore) to assist him in finding out which passenger is masterminding this horrific plot. Will they find this fiend, and how many people will have to die if they don't?

Others to round out the cast are Scoot McNairy as Tom Bowen, Nate Parker as Zack White, Corey Stoll as Austin Reilly, Omar Metwally as Dr. Fahim Nassir, Jason Butler Harner as Kyle Rice, co-pilot, Linus Roache as David McMillan, Shea Whigham as Agent Marenick, Quinn McColgan as Becca, Corey Antonio Hawkins as Travis Mitchell, and Frank Deal as Charles Wheeler.

This was directed with incredible intensity and grit by Jaume Collet-Serra ("House of Wax" '05, "Goal II: Living the Dream" '07, "Orphan" '09, "Unknown" '11). Neeson also starred in "Unknown", and obviously is comfortable working with Collet-Serra. He certainly was effective in both films, so much so, that I see them working on another film in the foreseeable future. it was effectively written by John W. Richardson, Chris Roach and Ryan Engle based on a story by Richardson and Roach. With the exception of a couples of inconsistencies in script, this was one incredible roller coaster ride pulling out all the stops. 
Neeson plays intense so well, it's no doubt why he plays this type of role so often in films. The intensity on the plane, after a point, increases by the minute where you wonder where  this is headed.

If you are an adrenaline junkie, you will get your fix and more. This is a sort of "Speed" '95 on an airplane where so much is going on, you wonder how this movie could end well or does it?

Out of 4 Stars: 3                         Rated: PG-13                         107mins.