Non-Stop – Film Review
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore and Lupita Nyong’o
Release Date: Feb 28
One of the most bizarre moves made by the film industry in recent years was the idea to start making film adaptations of board games.
2011 saw the release of Real Steel which was Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots: The Movie in everything but name.
2012 gave us Battleship, the classic strategy game but with added aliens to make it more exciting.
There is little doubt that Hungry Hungry Hippos will be a unique and very entertaining entry into the zombie movie sub-genre.
But to tide audiences over until THAT masterpiece is released, they can always enjoy Non-Stop, Liam Neeson’s latest action vehicle and the film equivalent of ‘Guess Who?’
Plenty of jokes have been flying around regarding this film, for example, ‘Snakes on a Plane minus the Snakes’, or ‘Taken on a Plane’. It’s not hard to see why because, while the writing isn’t deplorable, it is rife with clichè and this is easily spotted in the trailer alone.
The momentum of the film relies entirely on having the audience guess who the villain is, the dastardly terrorist who is killing passengers every 20 minutes and tweeting his exploits to Liam Neeson AKA Bill Marks. To the films’ credit, it will have you guessing and second guessing yourself constantly. However, this is due to a convoluted and utterly contrived setup and doesn’t evolve into an even remotely satisfying conclusion.
All of the key suspects of the film are given a brief introduction in the opening scenes at the airport, allowing us the giddy pre-show luxury of whispering “oooh I’ll bet it’s him, he has a mustache!” Some passengers are set up deliberately to appear suspicious, others are portrayed as overly friendly in order for you to feel smart in thinking it’s them. The film delights in tugging the rug out from under us and saying “Ho, Ho, you’re getting warmer, try again!”
This, of course, is a core ingredient in a ‘Whodunnit’ flick, but the film cripples itself in the final act by presenting the villain in a weak, because-we-said-so manner. The build-up to this moment counts for very little, all the little clues become null and void and critically, it doesn’t feel like a logical resolution. The writers clearly opted for the climax that the audiences wouldn’t see coming, but sacrifices momentum and flow in favour of this.
Which is a shame because, up until this point, the film does reasonably well with very little plot. The pacing is all over the place, but the action is kept amped up so you’re never bored. It all feels very cinematic as well, with some decent use of slow-mo and excellent camerawork, a notable feat when almost the entire film takes place in an unremarkable airplane.
Neeson rarely goes more than five minutes without threatening or punching someone, once the action gets going. For those utterly Taken with his other action movies (ho HO!), this will almost certainly be enough to pass the time. For those looking for a little more, the interactions he shares with Julianne Moore, a passenger sitting beside him, are reasonably solid, making them a likable enough duo. Their adequate dialogue nosedives along with the plane in the final act, but it holds together for as long as the general logic of the film does.
When this moment arrives, the film takes its central message and doesn’t so much hammer it home as it does nail it to a truck and drive it through Ground Zero with manic enthusiasm: 9-11 was bad, and made a lot of people very paranoid.
It doesn’t handle this aspect particularly well, but it certainly thinks it does. There is a running joke regarding a Muslim aboard the plane that takes that same paranoia and applies it bluntly with a tennis racket. While this is momentarily amusing, it repeatedly comes back to it in an effort to make us remember that, yes, some people went a little overboard with their xenophobia.
Your enjoyment of the film will vary depending on your love for Liam Neeson, but even hardcore fans will agree that this isn’t his best work. It’s passable, and most flaws are a result of the writing rather than his performance. Yet there is very little enthusiasm in his punches and punchy one-liners. He’s going through the motions here rather than really investing in this character, meaning this flows seamlessly into his recent action movie rainbow. The focus on same plot, different setting is becoming worryingly close to another action icon, that of Steven Seagal.
Moore does better, coming across as chirpy, comforting and anxious when the occasions call for it. She is a difficult actress to dislike and, though it isn’t obvious, she really carries a great deal of the film with her immediate likability. Other characters do decent jobs as well and no one hands in a particularly poor performance, but this is almost worse, landing the film in bland and generic-ville.
It isn’t the worst action film out there, but it certainly isn’t one of the best either. For those who are happy to let their mind be numbed by fun action and violence, this is just what the doctor ordered.
As a whole however, it’s a copy/paste job and the very poor final act will probably have you feeling a bit cheated.
Score: 2/5
Written by Stephen Hill
