Far-fetched but definitely exciting

Rating: 8/10 (30 March 2017)

Bill Marks is an air marshal on a flight from New York to Heathrow and as is to be expected in this sort of film he has his issues; in this case a drink problem following the death of his daughter some years ago. The flight starts normally enough as he chats to Jen, the woman seated next to him, but then he gets a message on his secure phone stating that a passenger will die every twenty minutes unless he arranges for $150,000,000 is placed in a numbered Swiss bank account. He initially assumes the other air marshal, Jack Hammond, is playing a joke but he assures Bill that he isn't. Shortly afterwards Jack is seen using his phone as he enters the toilet; Bill confronts him again this time Jack attacks him and after the fight Jack is dead. Soon Bill gets another message; the hijacker is still out there and one person is indeed dead. Now Bill knows the threat is very real and must decide who he can trust; there is Nancy, stewardess he knows and Jen who he instinctively trusts. He enlists their help to try to spot who is sending the messages. As time passes, and more people die, the tension rises and he even starts to question whether he can trust these two; then to make matters worse the airline start to believe that he is actually the hijacker!
It must be said that the plot is rather far-fetched and there are a few plot-holes that surprisingly didn't bother me while I was watching as the tension was so high. This is largely down to Liam Neeson's portrayal of Bill Marks; he brings an intensity to the role that makes him believable even when what is going on isn't very likely. He is ably supported by Michelle Dockery as Nancy and the always dependable Julianne Moore as Jen. The setting provides us with lots of suspects so the viewer should be kept guessing till the very end. This ending is thrilling even though the hijacker's motive is particularly far-fetched. Before this finale there is a good amount of action, some of it fairly intense. Overall I'd say that I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected and would recommend it to anybody who enjoyed Liam Neeson's other action films or who just enjoys the genre in general.