"Non-Stop"

By Matt Duncan
Coastal View News

If you watched the Oscars a week or two ago, you heard tell of some pretty good movies. You know that “12 Years a Slave” won Best Picture, that Matthew McConaughey won Best Actor for his role in “Dallas Buyers Club”, and that Cate Blanchett won Best Actress for her role in “Blue Jasmine”. There were other good and great movies in the spotlight as well, such as “American Hustle”, “Nebraska”, and “Her”. The Oscars rarely if ever deal with the very best films. Still, they are a decent guide to decentness.

But now comes the post-Oscar hangover. Take “Non-Stop”, for instance. This movie is not going to win any Oscars. That does not make it a bad movie, of course. But maybe it does temper one’s expectations.

It is about air marshal Bill Marks (Liam Neeson). Marks is not having a good day. It is enough that, as an air marshal, he has to spend all this time in airports and on planes. But then Marks also just seems to be having one of those lousy days where everything is late, everyone is bumping into you, and you just basically want it to end.

Then it gets worse. While airborne on a trans-Atlantic flight, Marks gets a creepy text from some mystery person who claims to be on the plane and watching Marks’ every move. At first it just seems like a prank. But then, kind of out of nowhere, the texter says that he or she is going to kill someone on the plane in 20 minutes, and every 20 minutes thereafter, unless Marks gets the airline to wire him or her $150 million.

This is an odd text for a couple of reasons. First, $150 million? Seriously? How is an air marshal supposed to swing that? Second, well look, buddy, if you try to kill someone then you are going to get caught—it is not like you can go on a killing spree, surrounded by hundreds of people, in that flying sardine can, all while remaining undetected. Plus, it can’t be too hard to just find out who is doing all that texting.

It turns out to be pretty hard to find out who is doing all that texting. Marks has some helpers, such as Jen (Julianne Moore) and Nancy (Michelle Dockery), but they cannot crack the case.

Meanwhile, everyone on the plane is getting pretty irritated. It is a long flight, after all, and it is annoying enough to have one’s in-flight movie interrupted by an obnoxiously loud PA announcement about the seatbelt sign. So forget about being hounded, harassed, searched and interrogated, all without being given a clue as to what is going on.

What’s even more frustrating is that Marks has no real leads. He cannot find the texter. People are dying. The airline is about ready to just cough up the $150 million. And, as if that’s not bad enough, many people—including those on the ground and maybe even some of us in the theater—suspect that it is really Marks who is hijacking the plane! Not good for Marks. He has to find the killer if he wants to prove his innocence. But time is running out.

So, yes, “Non-Stop” is not going to win any Oscars. That is not to say it isn’t a fun ride. It is. Liam Neeson is a good actor, and the fact that he is now a 60-year-old action superstar just goes to show that he is believable in just about any role.

However, “Non-Stop” does get pretty lame at the end. It is so silly and sugary and cliché that, by the time the credits are rolling, it is hard to remember that only 20 minutes ago you were pretty invested in the plot. Maybe that is enough to put “Non-Stop” somewhere between “meh” and “all right”. I’m not sure. Sometimes you know a movie is not going to win any Oscars, but you still have a hard time deciding whether it was worth the two hours.