3.5 stars. Rating: PG-13, for action, intense suspense, mild profanity, fleeting sensuality and drug content
By Derrick Bang
This is a taut, tidy and
thoroughly engrossing little thriller ... although it won’t do a thing for
people already nervous about flying.
John W. Richardson, Christopher
Roach and Ryan Engle have concocted a twisty, danger-laden mystery that Agatha
Christie would have admired: a whodunit and howzithappening that makes clever
use of the claustrophobic setting and modern smart phone technology. Granted,
the premise is preposterous, and interior details don’t withstand much
scrutiny, but director Jaume Collet-Serra and editor Jim May move things
quickly enough to obscure the logical lapses.
I also applaud the casting and
sidebar character development, elements usually overlooked in lesser action
thrillers. Although this is Liam Neeson’s show, and he commands the stage quite
ably, we also get solid work from a dozen or so supporting players.
Neeson and Collet-Serra also
worked together on 2011’s Unknown,
although that initially suspenseful thriller was undone by its sloppy script.
If the improved work here on Non-Stop
reflects learning from that earlier mistake, then it’s nice to know all
concerned paid attention.
The premise is simple: Veteran
air marshal Bill Marks (Neeson) boards a routine flight from New York City to
London, and starts receiving cryptic text messages from some unknown sender who
demands the transfer of $150 million into a numbered account ... or passengers
on the flight will start to die, at 20-minute intervals. It’s immediately
obvious, from what the sender knows, that s/he is on the plane.
Bill’s major issue is
credibility: How can he possibly take such a crazy ultimatum seriously? And
when evidence eventually suggest that this unknown terrorist truly has the means to carry out such threats,
how can Bill get anybody to believe him?
Character back-story muddies the
water, of course. Bill is a man under a cloud: an alcoholic carrying a heavy
personal burden — details of which emerge slowly — and therefore a less than
reliable judge of any given situation, in the eyes of his colleagues and
superiors. Even his fellow on-flight air marshal, Jack Hammond (Anson Mount),
finds it difficult to accept Bill’s story at face value.
Bill does everything by the book;
he immediately confides in the plane’s captain (Linus Roache) and veteran
flight attendant, Nancy (Michelle Dockery). Keeping the situation concealed
from the passengers is essential, but that becomes progressively more
difficult, as Bill’s invisible cat-and-mouse tormentor escalates the stakes.
On top of which, we’ve been
introduced to a planeload of potential suspects, each of whom looks
increasingly shifty. Could it be Zack (Nate Parker), the pushy passenger who
keeps getting in Bill’s way? Or Austin (Corey Stoll), the belligerent New York
City cop? Or Gwen (Lupita Nyong’o), the rookie flight attendant? Or the
condescending businessman, Charles (Frank Deal), or the contemptuous young guy
(Corey Hawkins) hiding behind dark sunglasses?
Or maybe Tom (Scott McNairy), the
friendly passenger who chatted Bill up, before the flight took off? Or Dr.
Nasir (Omar Metwally), whose Muslim turban immediately arouses everybody’s suspicion?
On the other hand, it could be
Jen (Julianne Moore), the perceptive and mildly flinty woman sitting next to
Bill, who seems unusually attuned to his increasing anxiety.
A few of these faces are
recognized immediately, starting with Nyong’o, a current Academy Award nominee
for her superlative work in 12 Years aSlave. Her role here lacks that level of gravitas; Gwen does little beyond
reacting to escalating events with wide-eyed agitation.
We know Dockery from TV’s Downton Abbey, and she deftly handles
her character’s uncertainty: Nancy knows Bill, clearly has worked with him for
awhile — as evidenced by a subtle gag when, before the merde hits the fan, she delivers a bottle of water instead of his
requested cocktail — but soon can’t help wondering if her trust is misplaced.
The scripters are to be
commended, in particular, for confronting the issue of Dr. Nasir’s heritage.
Metwally handles this role skillfully, his sad eyes registering a decade’s
worth of accusing stares, as he accurately intuits his increasingly precarious
position among the rest of his fellow passengers. Bill, on the other hand,
doesn’t succumb to knee-jerk prejudicial unease for a second; he treats Nasir
solely as a doctor. It’s a real-world lesson, administered mildly, and one of
the film’s best touches.
Moore is granted the most complex
supporting role, and she positively sparkles, just as she did during her
scene-stealing third-act appearance in last year’s Don Jon. Moore makes Jen intriguing even when she’s silent, her discerning
gaze and sidelong glances speaking volumes. Jen’s tart-tongued conversations
with Bill also add mild (and very welcome) comic relief to these proceedings.
That’s also savvy scripting; Collet-Serra understands the wisdom of granting us
viewers the false relief of snarky interludes between each crisis, which
therefore winds us up even further.
On top of which, we can’t help
suspecting Jen because she gets so much screen time ... and Moore quite
mischievously amplifies such doubts. Why is she always on hand when something bad happens?
As he has demonstrated in Unknown and both Taken entries, Neeson excels at characters who push past their
doubts, charging ahead with impulsive — if ill-advised — plans, and to hell
with anybody who gets in his way. Trouble is, this story’s airplane is an
extremely confined setting, and as various passengers become aware of Bill’s
progressively frantic behavior, they can’t help wondering if this so-called air
marshal can — or should — be taken at face value, or if in fact he’s the terrorist he claims to be
seeking.
In which case, how best to
“handle” him?
Collet-Serra and his scripters
keep us guessing, and they deserve credit for orchestrating inventive bits of
mayhem, while putting their poor hero into an ever-tighter, reputation- and
credibility-damaging box. Indeed, we
can’t help wondering, after awhile, if perhaps this is less a “real” depiction
of events, and more a psychological head-game along the lines of 2003’s Identity, thereby making Bill this
narrative’s least reliable witness.
Production designer Alexander
Hammond and special effects supervisor Jeff Brink also deserve considerable
praise, for concocting an edge-of-the-seat climax. I wouldn’t dare reveal any
details here, but let’s just say that Hammond and Brink apparently wanted to
one-up the upside-down maneuvering that was orchestrated for 2012’s Flight.
And that the laws of physics,
particularly with respect to mass and momentum, are a bitch.
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