Please, Liam…make it stop!
Is Liam Neeson consciously trying to emulate Nicolas Cage’s career path? Both actors won Academy Awards for dramatic roles, and then signed up for a series of increasingly inane action films until all the credibility they once had is gone.
Neeson continues his descent with Non-Stop in which he plays alcoholic Air Marshall Bill (not to be confused with Jim Carrey’s Fire Marshall Bill). Bill’s personal problems impact his professional career when he receives an anonymous text threatening one person on the flight will die every 20 minutes if $150 million isn’t deposited into an account. Worse, this mysterious mastermind is framing Bill for the plot, setting up a fake account in the Air Marshall’s name.
The film kept me on the edge of my seat, not because I cared about Bill or any of the other passengers, but because I really wanted an explanation of how these faceless felons pulled off such a trick. Yet the film never bothers trying to explain the “how”, possibly realizing the entire story is so outlandish that it’s pointless to try and explain it away. In short–if you care about plot you shouldn’t be watching this film, and the filmmakers know it. Truly, this film is Non-Stop stupidity.
Worst of all Julianne Moore is completely wasted in a role far beneath an actress of her stature and ability. I’d like to call her a red hair-ring but she doesn’t even rise to that level.
Truthfully I watched most of this film completely ambivalent. Midway through I tried to decide if that makes it a “recommend” or not. Then the film’s absurd climax happened. No answers may have been given as to how the criminals pulled their job, but the answer of how I rank this film was crystal clear.
Neeson’s career is not quite there, but if it continues its current path it will drop below 8,000 feet–which as the film tells me is such a dangerous altitude that fighter planes may scramble to shoot it down and prevent danger to civilians on the ground.
Where’s that A-Team sequel when Neeson needs it?
Strong Not Recommend.
