Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Non-Stop

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Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 03-01-2014, 06:38 PM:

An alcoholic air marshal (Liam Neeson) on a long-haul Atlantic flight is TXTed a demand from an on-board terrorist to deposit $150M into a bank account within 20 minutes or someone on the plane dies. If the 20 minute countdown runs out, the cycle starts again, and again until the demands are met. It's a simple premise but a highly effective one, resulting in a series of 20 minute nail biters set within the confined space of an aircraft. And who better to negotiate these proceedings than mature, solid, kick-ass Neeson?

In the last decade Neeson has set himself up as a contemporary Charles Bronson - a tough, rugged, ageing scrapper, well-intentioned but always finding himself a reluctant adversary to evil. And who can complain when, like Bronson, he's so good at it. That he's a fine actor also further adds to his appeal. And speaking of fine actors, Julianne Moore's inclusion in the cast is an odd but very welcome addition.

The films climax, however, is a little over-dramatic being too incredible to be believed, even in movie land. To finish the film on this note is entirely unnecessary given that the finely-tuned tension was already at it's peak; the attempt to stretch the tension further with implausible action and an unlikely conclusion merely pushes the credibility of the picture over the line. But thankfully it's not enough to shadow the greatness which came before and so, overall, it remains a very good show.

8 out of 10

Posted by Terry Lynn-Stevens (Member # 7349) on 03-03-2014, 11:09 PM:

This was a good Liam Neeson movie. It was less twist and more turns and I wasn't sure who was going to turn out to be the bad guy. It was refreshing to see Neeson as an alcoholic and then he breaks the law by smoking a few times in the planes washroom.

I liked the bad-ass ending with Neeson floating through the air.

I had a great time watching Non-Stop, I totally recommend it.

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 03-04-2014, 12:51 AM:

My biggest criticism of it would be how he was exonerated of his supposed crimes within 5secs of landing. It should have ended with him being led away in cuffs. And the final action sequence pushed a little too far even though the flying gun fight was kind of cool. Other than that, I think this is pretty great.

Posted by Terry Lynn-Stevens (Member # 7349) on 03-04-2014, 01:59 AM:

Fair enough Stu, but we gotta cut the guy a break LOL, Neeson did fly backwards, in-slow mo, at 8000 feet with a hole in the side of the plane while shooting the bad guy. I liked how it was a quick, tidy ending without a come back from the plane crash dead or a big twist in the final scenes.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 03-19-2014, 06:04 AM:

It still feels pretty weird seeing this movie on the same day that a big airliner of roughly the same size seems to completely vanish off the earth in real life...

I agree with Stu, that last part wasn't really necessary. Besides that, the landing partly looked like the CGI you would be proud of in the late 90s, but managed primarily in giving the whole thing a cheap feel.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-29-2014, 12:30 AM:

While some of the story is pretty preposterous as some here have said, I still found this to be a terrific thrill ride of a movie. I've always wished there could be a remake of "Airport" done a little less cheesy, and this is probably the closest thing we're ever going to get to it. It's a similar basic story (mad bomber on the plane) with all the sub-plots taken out.

There are plot holes big enough to drive a 747 through and the slam-bang ending is over the top, but it's a white knuckle ride all the same.

Liam Neeson has turned into a very reliable action hero. He probably doesn't have too many more years left before he becomes the next Harrison Ford, but for now he usually means a good time at the movies.

3.5 out of 5 stars from me. Would have been 4 stars if they had just toned down the ending a little and made it less ridiculous.

A side note and an eerie case of art-imitates-life: The scene where the plane takes a sudden dive and various people are thrown in the air....a similar situation happened just outside of Billings, Montana a few weeks ago. A United Airlines flight (a Boeing 737) headed for Billings encountered "severe clear air turbulence" and just dropped out of the air for several hundred feet. It recovered and landed safely, but not without a bunch of injuries: One guy who happened to not be wearing a seatbelt was thrown all the way to the ceiling of the plane and had severe head trauma, and three of the flight crew (who of course weren't belted in) wound up in the hospital.

Billings Gazette article

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 04-01-2014, 10:25 PM:

First half was fun and tense. Movie is never boring. But damn, as others have said, the final act just disappoints. I will go forward and say the ending flat out sucked. Whoever ends up being the bad people just does not jibe with the mind games the villain is playing with neeson at the beginning. I wish they rewrote who they chose to be villains.