A decent entry in the Liam Neeson middle-aged action hero tour, NON-STOP delivers plenty of action, intrigue and some overly PC messaging that induces eye rolling during key moments.
Neeson stars as a battered, heavy drinking air marshall with the usual screenplay checklist of personal issues and challenges.
On a transatlantic flight, Bill Marks (Neeson) begins receiving texts that appear to be coming from the flight, threatening many passenger deaths if $150 million isn't transferred by the airline into an offshore account.
A series of events (and the grinding gears of the screenplay) set up the threat of a passenger death every 20 minutes unless the cash is paid, then flips Neeson into the position where everyone aboard begins to think he is either mad or the one behind the extortion.
Neeson brings every bit of his "Taken" character Bryan Mills to his role of Bill Marks and manages to kick some serious on-board butt.
A second half plot line assumes that audiences will automatically suspect it must be any Muslims on board behind the plan and almost derails the logic of the film, but Neeson keeps you engaged enough to roll along with him after groaning your way through the PC preaching.
The way the texts are displayed on the film are very clever and visually interesting, really adding to the whodunit angles of the plane full of suspects.
Julianne Moore and Lupita Nyong'o are totally wasted in roles no deeper than a seventies TV movie, while Corey Stoll (The Strain) adds to the party nicely.
Fast, tense and decent, we'll give NON-STOP a B- for taking off, but never quite soaring as an action flick.
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