Ten Stars or Less

run time: 106 mins
rated: PG
considered: Action, Mystery, Thriller
starring: Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Scoot McNairy, Michelle Dockery, Nate Parker, Corey Stoll, Lupita Nyong’o, Omar Metwally, Jason Butler Harner, Linus Roache, Shea Whigham, Anson Mount, Quinn McColgan

movie summary: Bill Marks (Liam Neeson) has been in law enforcement his whole life and after dealing some family health issues and his own personal demons, he switched careers to become an US Air Marshall. He isn’t a huge fan of flying but always manages to make it through the take off part and perform his duties once the plane is in the air.

A little while after his flight from North America to London is airborne Bill receives a text on the air marshal secured network informing him that he has 20 minutes to wire transfer $150 million dollars or someone on the plane will die. Bill signals his air marshal partner Jack Hammon (Anson Mount) who meets him in the back of the plane in the washroom. He thinks Bill is over reacting and that someone is just playing a joke on him. As the time winds down Bill and Jack get into a confrontation where a gun is pulled and Jack is killed. Soon Bill’s phone gets a new message, this time reminding him to restart his watch because he has another 20 minutes to transfer the money or someone else will die.

Bill begins to search the passengers who are currently using cell phones, but comes up empty-handed when the clock reaches zero. The pilot is soon found dead after drinking something laced with poison. The phone goes off again and the new message reminds Bill how serious the situation is and that the clock will start at 20 minutes all over again. As a few more people begin to die, Bill’s temper boils over and he pulls out his gun to get people’s attention on the plane. He moves everyone towards the back of the plane and begins searching each and every passenger that could be suspicious to find the culprit. Meanwhile someone pulls out their cell phone and begins to record Bill pushing passengers around and acting crazy.

When everyone calms down on the plane, the stewardess turn on the TVs to find out that Bill is being accused of hijacking the plane. The news outlets have dug up his past and begin to piece together his master plan to get $150 million dollars and crash the plane. Bill tries to plead his case to some of the passengers who have decided to tackle him, steal his gun, and tie him down. After a brief struggle and a few thrown punches Bill informs everyone that there is a bomb on the plane and that he is the only trained to deactivate it. The passengers let him go, accept his story about being set up, and agree to help him land the plane before the bomb goes off in less than 20 minutes. The killer meanwhile is still alive on the plane while time is running out to solve the crime, clear his name, and rescue all the passengers.

my thoughts: Liam Neeson is one bad ass guy who no one in their right mind would want to mess with, nevermind when someone puts him in a confined space and threatens to kill him. Watch out for what he is capable of and how he will get out of a tough situation.

I was very excited for Non-Stop because it looked to have the perfect amount of action, drama, and fighting all rolled into one thrilling ride. Instead I was very let down. The story is very straight forward with Liam doing a fantastic job as an air marshal on a mission to solve a crime and save the day, but I felt a whole lot of American propaganda here. Any post 9-11 movie involving an airplane or airline will stereo type the passengers and always make certain races out to the bad guys, when in fact the bad guy in this movie is white. The whole purpose of hijacking the airplane and killing everyone aboard is to send a message about how poor airline security actually is. I was like “come on, seriously?” this was more salt into my bleeding wound and ultimately I would not recommend this movie to anyone at full price. The ending is very unrealistic and makes the airplane scenes in the movie Flight look fantastic when they were outright ridiculous. Right before the credits roll the ending leaves the audience guessing who the real mastermind of the plan was and who actually got the $150 million. A couple of loose ends but it’s up to you to decide for yourself what happened.

The story is interesting enough to keep you entertained while the action and drama get kicked into high gear through out the flight, which ultimately ends in a disaster on many different levels.

my star rating: 4 out 10