Like opening a Highly anticipated Christmas Presents to find out you got ugly socks.

Rating: 6/10 (4 April 2014)

Non-Stop is the latest thrill ride action movie starring Liam Neeson. I will keep this review short and straight-forward, something I wish the director had done as well.
This film is not bad, but it certainly has some problems. It's almost as if the writers suddenly ran out of ideas, and decided to throw darts at the very high list of suspects in order to just end it all. The film's main strength is the fact that it does a remarkable job at building up the suspense. It really does keep you guessing all throughout the movie. Everyone is a suspect, it's entertaining, suspenseful and it works like a charm. It reminded me of the old-school Hollywood mystery thrillers. The action was certainly there, but none of it was over the top or too silly at first. So far so good. By the time the ending comes along though, the plot is slapped together in a half-assed, rushed and very unimaginative way. The main motive behind all of it was weak, didn't make sense and felt like a rushed, lame and very standard way to tie things together. By the time Liam Neeson starts fighting someone with an oxygen mask, I was done with this film. As stated above, the main strength is the anticipation, rather than the actual pay-off. Like a big Christmas present lurking from under the tree. You see it, envision it, the anticipation and excitement is overwhelming. And then you open the present.....And it's barely so-so.
The movie is not without merits either. The acting is good, mainly from Neeson, Moore and Dockery. Lupita is great as well but her character added nothing to the film. In fact, most secondary characters added nothing to the film. Some characters are used as a plot device but mostly they come across as filler, which makes you care less about any of them. On the flip side, the acting is very good all-round. The director keeps things steady for a good run. In the end however, as the chaos on the flight progresses, so does the chaos behind the camera.
All in all, this movie was, for me, quite forgettable. Not good, not bad, just so-so. But by all means, see this in the cinema. It's still an action flick on a plane. You could do worse.