A FILM REVIEW
BY MICHAEL FEEZER
Director Jaume Collet-Serra brings us the suspenseful and nerve-racking film, Non-
Stop. This 2014, action-packed movie stars Schindler’s List‘s Liam Neeson along with the lovely, Julianne Moore.
The film starts off by giving a small insight into the life of Bill Marks (Liam Neeson), who is an Air Marshall who will do anything it takes to protect the lives of the people who travel by airplane. We quickly discover that Bill is an alcoholic who has a soft spot for children. The audience is forced to question the reliability of Bill as an air marshal when he is seen feeding his addiction on the job.
On what seems like a normal flight across the Atlantic Ocean, Bill is called into action when someone texts him through a private phone number from a hidden phone network which is supposedly shared between him and the other air marshal on the flight. Through an anonymous text, demands for $150 million to be transferred to a given account or every twenty minutes on the dot a passenger on the plane will be killed.
Bill is forced to decide whether or not this threat is worth sweating over. He quickly determines that the threat is real and i takes action to protect his passengers. He receives help from worried flight attendant, Nancy (Michelle Dockery), and the trustworthy passenger he sat next to earlier on the flight, Jen Summers (Julianne Moore).
After an altercation with his supervisor, Bill disregards the airline’s order for him to stand down as air marshal for the flight and carries on his investigation. Word spreads on land that Bill Marks has hijacked the airplane, and it does not take long for this information to reach the passengers on the plane who before believed that Bill was taking extreme actions to protect them. Bill begs for the passengers’ trust and cooperation but they are unsure of his intentions. The passengers are left with the stressful task of deciding whether or not to deem the air marshal a terrorist and attack him, or to take his word and follow his orders.
The film has an intriguing plot that takes an interesting twist mid-way through. I was very impressed with Liam Neeson’s performance in the film and very pleased to know that after all of these years he still has what it takes to take on a difficult roll and perform it well. Julianne Moore’s role in the movie was not bad, but I can’t deny that there is a list of actresses on my mind who I’m sure could have contributed to the movie in a more appreciated way. Nonetheless, the two combined and brought us a movie worth watching.
Proving my doubts for this film wrong, Jaume Collet-Serra really surprised me with a must-see film that deserves a spot on the shelf. Most of the actors played their roles almost perfectly, despite some disappointments. The story line is well thought out, the film keeps you asking questions, and the ending is exciting. I give this film a solid four out of five stars.
