Non-Stop is the sort of action-thriller that one sees, enjoys, and then forgets. It is a perfectly serviceable 106-minute entertainment. It is also the most polished film yet from Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra, whose previous works (House of Wax, Orphan, Unknown) have been clumsy and preposterous. In comparison, Non-Stop is lean, mean stuff. It benefits from the presence of Liam Neeson, who easily slips into the “late-middle-age badass” role that he has donned in recent features. Also crucial to Non-Stop's success is its setting: a passenger plane on a New York to London flight. Bounding the action within an aircraft focuses the nail-biting drama, as strategy utilized in many other thrillers (Passenger 57, Red Eye, Flightplan).
The film's setup is devilishly simple. Shortly after takeoff, a mysterious individual begins sending texts to edgy, alcoholic air marshall Bill Marks (Neeson), threatening to kill a passenger every 20 minutes unless Bill secures a six-figure ransom. The marshall quickly discerns that the terrorist is on the plane, and the scenario becomes a variation on a locked room mystery. It's low-rent Hitchcock plotting, certainly, but effective nonetheless. The tension is amplified when the outside world comes to believe that Bill himself is holding the plane hostage, which appears to have been the perpetrator's intention all along.
To be sure, Non-Stop is saddled with stock characters, syrupy interludes, and a cookie-cutter terrorist plot. But it has Neeson running around puzzling out the scheme and punching people, and that is enough. Julianne Moore is also on hand to provide a mellower counterpoint, and Collet-Serra uses the setting's confined space to render the action raw and appealingly messy. Together, these elements are sufficient to push Non-Stop into the column of worthwhile winter diversions.
