Thursday, February 27, 2014

NON-STOP (C-)


Bottom Line: The mighty Irishman hoists and tosses this generically tech savvy, illogically executed and sporadically interesting sky high thriller into an ever expanding chasm of early-in-the-year mediocrity. The promises NON-STOP delivers in its seemingly well-planned beginning are ultimately jettisoned for cheap, repetitive and uninspired ‘thrills’ throughout the middle and end – the premise starts to get stale, the character motives become far-fetched and the story as a whole becomes uninvolving.  Neeson is semi-successful in securing the over-the-top, out-of-control antics with a thin ribbon of intrigue, but you’ll still mourn the casualties of solid dialogue, believable special effects and a general sense of caring how/if the day ever gets saved.  Recommended if you stumble across it on cable in a few short months, the meticulous mechanics involved dictate that we should have gotten something a bit less goofy and mindless.  The only thing here that was truly non-stop for me was the checking of my watch and, ultimately, the not really caring how it all turns out…
 
Starring: Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra (UNKNOWN, ORPHAN and HOUSE OF WAX)
Rated: PG-13
Running time: 110 minutes
Studio description: Global action star Liam Neeson stars in NON-STOP, a suspense thriller played out at 40,000 feet in the air. During a transatlantic flight from New York City to London, U.S. Air Marshal Bill Marks (Neeson) receives a series of cryptic text messages demanding that he instruct the government to transfer $150 million into an off-shore account. Until he secures the money, a passenger on his flight will be killed every 20 minutes. NON-STOP, which reunites Neeson with UNKNOWN director Jaume Collet-Serra and producer Joel Silver, co-stars Golden Globe Award winner Julianne Moore and will be released by Universal Pictures on February 28, 2014. The StudioCanal production is also produced by Andrew Rona and Steve Richards. (C) Universal
 
Official site: www.nonstopthefilm.com

2 comments:

Dan O. said...

Good review Brian. It's dumb, but it's also exciting and rather unpredictable, making it definitely worth the watch, if only for a fun time at the movies.

BRTaibl said...

Thanks, Dan! Yeah, that's fair - people DID clap at the end... They also clapped at the WINTER'S TALE so apparently I'm unable to gauge what exactly clapping means. NON-STOP should play great on cable or perhaps a rental.