“Great” Scott’s Stupendously Great Review of Non-Stop (2014)

“Great” Scott’s Stupendously Great Review of Non-Stop (2014)

Title       

Non-Stop

IMDB Page

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2024469/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

One-Sentence Summary

It’s a who-dunnit in the air as Liam Neeson’s air marshall Bill Marks tries to stop a murderer from killing people on an airplane.

What’s Great About It

Nothing’s particularly great about this move, but there’s a lot that’s very good.

What’s Not-So-Great About It

Some people are going to complain about the political undertones, but, seriously, it’s a Liam Neeson Movie.  Also, at the risk of a MINOR spoiler, part of the ending pushes the needle into the absurd region. 

Rating

GGGg (3.5 out of 5)

Explanation

Let me get this out of the way right out of the gate…this movie will never be mistaken for an Oscar nominee.  It’s not artsy-fartsy and you’ll never mistake it for 12 Years a Slave (except for the odd fact that Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o plays a ridiculously small part) or Philomena.  If you understand these (pretty damned obvious) statements, you’ll be prepared for Non-Stop, which is a very entertaining movie.

The plot’s pretty simple: Liam Neeson plays an air marshal that gets a text from a mystery person who wants 150 million dollars.  That mystery person threatens to kill someone on the plane every 20 minutes if the money isn’t delivered.  The rest of the movie sees Neeson growl at people the way only he can; people who are familiar with law enforcement will probably take some umbrage with some of the tactics Neeson’s Bill Marks employs, and said tactics did make my eyes roll from time to time, but for most of the hour and 45 minutes of this movie, I was entertained.  Neeson does a great job, and just enough of the supporting cast does just enough to make them suspicious and potential threats.

There’s not really much more to say.  Non-Stop was entertaining, but it's a movie I’m likely to forget in a few months.  I enjoyed the time I spent in theater, but I’m not going put it on any top ten lists.  If you enjoy a good suspense movie (or, more specifically, if you liked Liam Neeson in Taken or Unknown), you’ll enjoy Non-Stop.  It merits a rainy day trip to the theater or at the very least a rental.