Non-Stop

Rating: 5/10 (22 October 2014)

I saw clips and short trailers for this film, I knew it was set on a plane, and with the leading actor it was highly likely to have elements all too familiar from Taken, but I was still up for trying it, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (House of Wax, Orphan, Unknown). Basically discharged NYPD officer Bill Marks (Liam Neeson) is an alcoholic following the death of his daughter from leukaemia, he now works as U.S. federal air marshal, he is boarding a Boeing 767 non-stop flight from New York to London aboard British Aqualantic Flight 10, he is seated next to passenger Jen Summers (Julianne Moore). Midway over the Atlantic Ocean, while most passengers are sleeping, Bill receives text messages on his secure phone from an unknown caller, the stranger threatens to kill someone in twenty minutes, and this will repeat every twenty minutes, unless $150 million is transferred into a specific bank account. Bill breaks protocol and consults with Jack Hammond (Anson Mount), the other air marshal, he is discovered to be smuggling cocaine, they argue and Bill end up killing his partner in the lavatory, this counts as the first death, the twenty minute clock starts again, working with Jen and flight attendant Nancy (Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery) they look on the surveillance monitors to see which passengers use their cell phones when he messages the texter. The next twenty minutes expire, the second victim is pilot Captain David McMillan (Priest's Linus Roache) from poisoning, the situation becomes more tense as Bill alerts the plane of a potential situation, they and the public on the ground become convinced he is hijacking the plane himself, a passenger filmed and uploaded a video of him acting aggressively without explanation, and the bank account is in his name, the TSA instruct co-pilot Kyle Rice (Jason Butler Harner) to ignore Bill and land in nearest destination Iceland, he diverts the plane, but cautiously continues to trust Bill. Cell phone programmer Zack White (Nate Parker) helps by hacking the texter's cell phone to ring, Bill locates it with a passenger who claims to have never seen it before, after a fight this passenger dies in a similar fashion to the captain, looking at the bodies of of the captain and the passenger Bill determines they were killed by poison dart. The texter sends a message out that makes it look like Bill is suicidal and will detonate a bomb on the plane, a bomb is found in Hammond's suitcase filled with smuggled cocaine, passengers convinced he is a terrorist try to hold him, but teacher Tom Bowen (Scoot McNairy) helps him get them away with a gun, Bill finally explains the situation to the passengers. The bomb cannot be deactivated, so passengers take his instructions to place it at the rear of the plane, covering it with luggage bags, the plane will then descend to 8,000 feet to equalise air pressure, the explosion will be contained and there will be minimal casualties, as this is being done Bill watches the video of himself that was uploaded, and he spots something. Tom Bowen slipped the cell phone into the second victim's pocket, Bowen is the culprit, and White is working with him, Bowen's father was killed in the 9/11 attacks, he and White are ex- security, they want frame an air marshal as a terrorist which will lead to higher airline security, Bowen is prepared to die along with the other passengers if it leads to this change, he shoots White who is persuaded at a point to disarm the bomb. Following another fight, and the co-pilot in panic descending the plane rapidly, Bill shoots Bowen in the head, and defeated by him White is killed being close to the bomb blast. In the end Rice makes an emergency crash landing at the Iceland air base following the explosion, the fighter-jet escorting the threatened plane do not shoot it down as warned, the plane sustains great damage but no-one else is harmed, Bill is cleared as a terrorist and praised as a hero, and he and Jen start a friendship. Also starring 12 Years a Slave's Lupita Nyong'o as Gwen, The Bourne Legacy's Corey Stoll as Austin Reilly and Rendition's Omar Metwally as Dr. Fahim Nasir. Neeson does his usual hardman act well, Moore is okay as the frequent flyer assisting him, and some of the co-stars get their time alright as well, the cat-and-mouse game element works relatively well, as you play along and try to guess who is the bad guy or who will be next to snuff it, and being in a location thousands of feet above ground the claustrophobia is certainly present throughout, the dialogue and some moments are predictable and daft, but this is not a bad action thriller at all. Worth watching!