Non-Stop

You’ll keep telling yourself that if the screenwriters don’t mess it up, it’s going to be a perfect aero-thriller. Non-Stop has a fast pace, a charismatic lead actor, rising paranoia and escalating suspense. But the screenwriters do mess it up, and even though the suspense remains, the film gradually loses its seriousness and in the end leaves you smiling indulgently over another silly action flick with a 1990s mentality (as you could expect from a Joel Silver production). A piece of advice: if everyone on the plane thinks you’re a terrorist and the situation gets out of hand, just tell them that your daughter died of cancer. (03/04/2014)

I see that Liam Neeson can get himself mixed up in some great stories. After the movies Taken and Unknown, he completes his distinctive thriller trilogy with this very film. I just hope it’s not the end of the thriller genre for him, because I think he has found himself in those movies. And it doesn’t really matter that in this movie, he plays an aged alcoholic who shakes like a leaf at the thought of a stressful situation. Anyway, I can’t just talk about him all the time. The director has a great deal of credit for the high quality of this movie. If I decided to view this thriller as a crime investigation story, I’d think that everybody on the board of that plane was the killer. The camera shots of those people, their looks and even their behavior was exactly what I needed. Because I wasn’t sure about absolutely anything. And that’s why I really enjoyed this dynamic and tense movie. (06/29/2014)

B-movie shit that deals with its stupidity with an A-cast and ambitious emotional directing (after The Grey, Liam's pensive self-beautiful beginnings are probably becoming a tradition). The more refined the screenplay wants to be, it has to find that much more of a stupid and overcomplicated solution in a situation that makes no sense. That's because the screenwriters want you to knot your brain cells a little harder through a "big mystery". Were it not for the fact that the viewer can accept Neeson dramatically gargling of toilet disinfectant, this mannerist pretense of an intelligent thriller would be hardly bearable. This way, the stench pours out in the last ten minutes. But it is worth it. [55%] (07/02/2014)

An excellent thriller that gradually runs out of ideas, and it becomes clear that it just wants to get to the end. Liam Neeson excels again as an action hero, except for the strong emotional speech, which was clearly dictated by the screenwriters. Otherwise, I have to say that I enjoyed the film due to its palpable tension, which was very gripping. It’s not sustained throughout, but you'll find yourself rooting for Liam the whole time. (07/31/2014)

After a great introduction, I was full of hope and hoped that it wouldn't be spoiled... But it was. As time went on, the film became more and more futile, the various characters behaved more or less stupidly, and the repetitive "killer twenty minutes" started to look almost ridiculous as the filmmakers tried to cram in some action... By and large, Liam Neeson saved the day as the paranoid alcoholic, although he was given a much better opportunity in Unknown (not to mention the excellent The Grey). Yes, I was curious all the time with regard to "what, who, how and why", but sometimes something was just so evident that I couldn't miss it. Three and a half.__P.S. My favorite composer John Ottman unpleasantly surprised me with the bland music, which is a pity. (03/07/2014)