Non-Stop is a fun film, but it isn't perfect

Rating: 6/10 (7 April 2015)

Non-Stop is a film starring Liam Neeson wherein he plays the part of a troubled air marshal who must solve the mystery of who is murdering people on a jet airliner every twenty minutes while being taunted through a string of anonymous text messages. This plot lends itself to many situations where a strong suspension of disbelieve is crucial if the viewer has any intention of having a good time sitting through it.
The ultimate strength of this movie comes from its exceptional use of misdirective writing and the amount of red herring incidents found within the screenplay. There is several times where the plot will convincingly mislead the viewer to suspect the wrong character, including moments where doubt can seep in and make some even question the main protagonist himself. With all that said the actual big reveal and explanation of the antagonist's motives are extremely disappointing and lack any great deal of sense.
The pacing of this film varies from mind numbingly slow and deliberate to heart pounding speed and action. This does lend itself to some dull moments, as well as times were things are happening at such an alarming rate that you might not catch every important detail, all despite its interesting writing.
The soundtrack to this film is mostly subtle, as it should be, but when it isn't the music can be seen as an irritating and overly deliberate attempt to maximize suspenseful moments. A more subliminal soundtrack would have been better to try and achieve this affect throughout all the scenes.
The camera-work for this film is absolutely superb and does an amazing job at capturing the claustrophobic elements of the narrow spaces within an air plane. However, there is some moments during action sequences where some may find the shake-heavy movements of the camera to be jarring or even distracting.
Non-Stop is the kind of film that is Liam Neeson's bread and butter and if you don't find the typical Liam Neeson film stale, than you will definitely adore this movie. However, this film does not differentiate itself enough in this reviewer's opinion to warrant any significant praise not also owed to those other films. It's more of the same. It's a simple movie that is pretending to be complex but does a fun job in doing so.