'Non-Stop' review by Jake Boyle
It's weird remembering both a pre-Taken and post-Taken Hollywood. Aside from Liam Neeson's more-than-incongruous overnight transformation into an action star, it opened the floodgates for the following onslaught of 'geriaction' movies. I haven't seen Taken and thus can't comment on its quality, but it's not impossible that had it not been successful, we wouldn't have The Expendables, or Grudge Match, or whatever else Stallone's planning on doing, which doesn't best endear me to either that particular film or the entire sub-sub-genre that is elderly Liam Neeson hitting people.
The thing is, Non-Stop doesn't quite qualify as an action movie, or at least not by my standards. There are a few combat scenes, which were competently and entertainingly done, but for the most part this film pans out as a thriller. It's sort of like Murder On The Orient Express but on a plane, with a murderer among the passengers picking them off, with a dashing of Die Hard With A Vengeance, as the ransom-seeking terrorist taunts our troubled and hard-boiled hero via telephone. If mixing those two pieces together sounds like a bad idea, you'd be right. Somewhat. Non-Stop veers between grittiness and warm familiarity like a drunk driver, which might serve as a warning as to why you don't hire the producers of reality TV shows to write a claustrophobic thriller with references to 9/11. Scenes in which Neeson comforts a lonely child or flirts with Julianne Moore (in a very humourless, po-faced fashion) are at total odds with his character (the fantastically monosyllabically named Bill Marks) shoving, bullying and often assaulting the passengers during his investigation. The moral dubiousness of this is discussed just enough so that Bill becomes less likeable, but not so much that the film actually does any exploration of morality, or even appears to try to make Bill an antihero or otherwise murky and not just 'the good guy'.
One thing I will say in Non-Stop's favour is that the killer's identity was not obvious or apparent to me, which is an important element in a whodunnit. This is partly because their reasoning turns out to be pretty stupid, but this isn't exactly the kind of film where stupidity feels out of place. Neeson was good enough in his role, bringing needed gravitas to the film that went some way to making me take things seriously. The passengers themselves are all characterised (if loosely) and performed perfectly adequately, but none of them are worthy of extolling much praise, which is a shame when talented actors like Lupita Nyong'o and Scoot McNairy are involved. The possible exception is Nate Parker, who just seems to have a little more flair than everybody else.
Non-Stop wasn't bad, but it wasn't really good either. The plot, while nutty, is kind of interesting and mostly stays unpredictable, and Neeson plays everything seriously enough that the film doesn't drown in its own daftness. There was a much better, darker and thrilling film lurking under the surface, and this is normally the type of thing I'd attribute to producers and studios playing it safe, but looking at the pedigree (or lack thereof) of the writers and director, I'm more inclined to believe that it's just been poorly made. It's decent entertainment and nothing about it is a bad experience to watch, but don't expect too much more than that.
The thing is, Non-Stop doesn't quite qualify as an action movie, or at least not by my standards. There are a few combat scenes, which were competently and entertainingly done, but for the most part this film pans out as a thriller. It's sort of like Murder On The Orient Express but on a plane, with a murderer among the passengers picking them off, with a dashing of Die Hard With A Vengeance, as the ransom-seeking terrorist taunts our troubled and hard-boiled hero via telephone. If mixing those two pieces together sounds like a bad idea, you'd be right. Somewhat. Non-Stop veers between grittiness and warm familiarity like a drunk driver, which might serve as a warning as to why you don't hire the producers of reality TV shows to write a claustrophobic thriller with references to 9/11. Scenes in which Neeson comforts a lonely child or flirts with Julianne Moore (in a very humourless, po-faced fashion) are at total odds with his character (the fantastically monosyllabically named Bill Marks) shoving, bullying and often assaulting the passengers during his investigation. The moral dubiousness of this is discussed just enough so that Bill becomes less likeable, but not so much that the film actually does any exploration of morality, or even appears to try to make Bill an antihero or otherwise murky and not just 'the good guy'.
One thing I will say in Non-Stop's favour is that the killer's identity was not obvious or apparent to me, which is an important element in a whodunnit. This is partly because their reasoning turns out to be pretty stupid, but this isn't exactly the kind of film where stupidity feels out of place. Neeson was good enough in his role, bringing needed gravitas to the film that went some way to making me take things seriously. The passengers themselves are all characterised (if loosely) and performed perfectly adequately, but none of them are worthy of extolling much praise, which is a shame when talented actors like Lupita Nyong'o and Scoot McNairy are involved. The possible exception is Nate Parker, who just seems to have a little more flair than everybody else.
Non-Stop wasn't bad, but it wasn't really good either. The plot, while nutty, is kind of interesting and mostly stays unpredictable, and Neeson plays everything seriously enough that the film doesn't drown in its own daftness. There was a much better, darker and thrilling film lurking under the surface, and this is normally the type of thing I'd attribute to producers and studios playing it safe, but looking at the pedigree (or lack thereof) of the writers and director, I'm more inclined to believe that it's just been poorly made. It's decent entertainment and nothing about it is a bad experience to watch, but don't expect too much more than that.
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