Where Sly Stallone’s Expendables franchise seems to be reward for longevity in action, Liam Neeson is a comparatively new kid on the block, despite being the high side of sixty. But since his action hero debut in the excellent Taken it seems Neeson has released multiple action films each year.
Some are good. Some are OK. Some are very ordinary. None have topped his debut action effort. Yet he continues getting work and people continue lining up. He is the modern day Wesley Snipes.
His latest is Non-Stop, a taut little unfolder with a few pulse pounding moments that is neither good nor awful, merely watchable. Probably settling right about where you think it will in truth.
Neeson plays Bill, a character that steals equally from his roles in Taken and The Grey. Bill has the ‘special set of skills’ and the knack for noticing things others would not, but he is also jaded, worn down by job pressures and family issues. He has taken to drinking to get by, and in one scene he will inspire foolish people the world over to risk being arrested for smoking on a flight.
In summary, he is an alcoholic smoker with attention and job satisfaction issues. Gee at least he’s not the pilot.
He needs all the handy skills on a lengthy flight between the US and London. As Bill is an air marshal tasked with ensuring no funny business goes on – and not the funny business that apparently happens in aircraft toilets.
No sooner does he board the flight – meeting all of those stereotypical people that apparently only fly in the movies – does he settle in to a journey filled with sly drinking and feeling sorry for himself. Bill is assigned to business class, because it would seem terrorists, criminals and assorted hijackers across the world have coin for the upgrade, and he immediately gets to people watching.
Meanwhile you’re sitting there casually convicting every second passenger and crew member; “it’s him”, “Oh wait it’s that guy”, “Yep definitely her”.
Because you can do that on the couch with no repercussions. I always love the guy who accuses the first 43 rows, everyone at the boarding gate and the state of Idaho and at the end calmly says “told you”.
It is once the flight is underway that the action heats up. Bill receives an SMS direct to his personal phone that says ‘I will kill someone every 20 minutes’. Unless Big Money.
Bill doesn’t have Big Money, and he says so, and for a while there are more messages sent back and forth than there are in a school excursion.
And so it goes from there. The time pressure brings tension. Bill’s search brings unease, and the passenger’s reactions and confusion heightens the situation. And you better believe Bill understands that there is no harm with a little accusation of capital crime here and there.
As with all of these films the exhilaration comes with the unknown. Bill might be throwing out the blame here and there but rest assured you won’t like the film half as much if you don’t be even more indiscriminate with your verbal convictions.
The action isn’t near as exciting as Taken, the stakes aren’t as high as The Grey. In fact the Wesley Snipes comparison might end up being unfortunately apt for Ireland’s finest. Snipes burst on the scene with good looks, physical abilities and charisma, catching the public’s eye for a while, but after a slew of shoddily crafted action movies he nearly vanished. It was only when he found his niche in Blade that his career was validated.
In action terms Neeson is similarly scattergun in his approach. Both he and Hollywood know that he puts bums on seats at the moment, so they are throwing as many projects together as they can. Unless Neeson finds his signature role – his second Taken – to bump him back up into action movie relevance, he seems pre-destined to make his inevitable appearance in The Expendables 4 or 5; also known as the retirement home for ex-action stars.
Non-stop isn’t bad, but it isn’t doing anything to suggest improvement.
Final Rating – 6.5 / 10. Another competent but middling Neeson actioner. He can only rely on the Taken goodwill for so long.
