Not well tied up...

Rating: 7/10 (2 July 2014)

I really liked this movie but I have to complain about the writers inability to tie this movie up and use details to their advantage.
As an example: At the end of the movie, the antagonists monologue was clear but not detailed enough to make me think he was the mastermind. To be honest, this character was just not strong to me. That's a no no. I mean, he SEEMED smart but I just didn't see him being the person behind this caper. And his partner in crime was not detailed enough to have been in charge of the bulk of the planning so I know they intended for the Tom Bowen character to be the ring leader. I mean, come on, this man rigged up the TV's on the plan to show news coverage on cue! His closing speech and behavior should have been fantastic! But it fell WAY short. To fit my theme of tying it up at the end, with this character being so weak and lacking a better detailed explanation for his crimes, I felt lost. Yeah, security sucks but was all this necessary? Yeah, you have some PTSD but whats your motivation? I also understand that some people are just crazy and don't need motivation but that should be clear.
Also, they tried way to hard to make EVERYONE look like a suspect. At the end I had a list of about 8 people who may have been involved (the real criminals were on that list also). Co-pilot, stewardess, NYPD, hostile black man in the cameo, Julianne Moore's character, and others. I know some people may disagree with me and call this a "true mystery" because of that but on a plane full of people and with the build up that they used and full plane shots of the passengers I didn't need to see everyone's nervous looks and shifty eyes 100 times, I know it could be anyone... I'm not stupid. Like the stewardess for instance, I just knew she was involved. She looked too nervous, she was too nosy, etc. But at the end, nothing, they didn't even give her a reason for looking so suspicious the whole darn movie! Again, they did not do a good job tying up the loose ends.
And just a little pet peeve I had, why did it take these people so long to understand that Liam Neeson's character was right! After the pilot died the co-pilot should have been right on board! I was upset because everyone wants to call this man an alcoholic and shun him but they can clearly see that he's right and they continued to bash him and distrust him. It took an act of congress to get them to believe him. That's annoying.
All and all I did enjoy this movie but I will probably not watch it again. I thought the passengers were a little to ignorant and I can't stand that! You can take denial only so far before it gets annoying.