‘Non-Stop’ Movie Review: Liam Neeson shines in Hitchcock style thriller
Liam Neeson reunites with Unknown director Jaume Collet-Serra to deliver a great action thriller in Non-Stop.
Neeson plays the bitter alcoholic Federal Air Marshal Bill Marks, who is now receiving threatening text messages from a passenger on his flight. A $150 million ransom or dead passengers proves to be a the perfect macguffin to keep this Hitchcock style thriller moving along at a fast pace.
Twists and turns here separate the film from Neeson’s Taken series and resemble Jodie Foster 2005 film Flightplan, except Non-Stop is highly entertaining.
Collet-Serra assembled a great cast of characters actors as a cast of passengers that includes a sensitive businesswoman (Julianne Moore), a tough New York cop (Corey Stoll), a thirtysomething slacker dude (Scoot McNairy) and a Muslim doctor (Omar Metwally).
Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery and 12 Years a Slave actress Lupita Nyong’o are both underutilized yet perfectly distract the audience from other details more crucial to the plot.
Make no mistake, this is Neeson’s film and he’s the perfect actor for a 2014 Alfred Hitchcock thriller on an airplane derailing every notion a passenger should have: is this guy trying to save us or hijack the plane?
Best film of 2014 thus far, a great thriller with an “old school” feel.
Overall: Ride Along receives 4 out of 5 stars