By Geno McGahee
For years, I didn’t think much of Liam Neeson. I think it all came down to THE HAUNTING in 1999. I hated that movie and I think that I blamed Neeson, just because he was part of it, but that movie is now just a bad memory. In 2008 I saw TAKEN and that changed my feelings about Neeson and I began to re-evaluate my thoughts and his career and found out that I was wrong. I began to notice that Neeson was pretty good and didn’t deserve my hate. He was underused in the DEAD POOL, but really did well in DARK MAN and his recent run of films is outstanding and I am now a Neeson fan, which is why I bought NON-STOP, rather than renting first. I now know that Neeson delivers and is always worth a purchase, unless he makes THE HAUNTING 2.
Bill Marks (Neeson) is an air marshal with some inner demons. His daughter passed away and he’s got alcohol problems and is just going through the motions with his job. Things change when he begins to get text messages that one person will die every 20 minutes if 150 million dollars isn’t transferred into an account. Unfortunately, because of his reputation, Marks is hard to believe and he’s in this alone, more or less. People start to die in strange ways and Marks is desperately trying to track down the madman.
Seated next to Marks on the flight is Jen Summers (Julianne Moore) and she becomes the support, but she might have something to hide herself. Everyone is suspect and Marks begins to use tactics to discover the culprit, but when the pilot is killed and a video is leaked online, he is believed to be a terrorist and the passengers think that he may crash it. Austin Reilly (Corey Stoll), an NYPD officer rallies some of the passengers to take down Marks and this gives Neeson, the action star, to show his skills as one of today’s best action stars. Reilly proves to be a great character and rival for Marks.
Things go from bad to worse when a bomb is discovered on the plane. Marks has to figure out how to save the people and convince them that he is there to help, not hurt them. He must also figure out the identity of the terrorist(s) on the plane, leading to an action-packed conclusion and some great delivery by Neeson. Neeson is able to be as tough as nails but a sentimental hero as well. When he brings up the fact that he’s a drunk and a bad father, it’s a great mixture of good writing and delivery.
NON-STOP is a throwback to films like DIE HARD and EXECUTIVE DECISION. It is a fun ride from start to finish and keeps your interest. This has been described as TAKEN on a plane and that’s sort of accurate, but that’s a good thing. Neeson has found his “action persona” and runs with it, making this a must see. If you are a fan of TAKEN, you will love NON-STOP.
Rating: 8/10
I’m definitely a fan of Neeson’s. I’m going to order Non-Stop on payday. The Taken 3 in now in production and due out January of 2015. Liam Neeson is certainly a man with a particular set of job skills you don’t want to mess around with. His late wife would be proud of him.
Neeson is the man. He has filled that action void.