Non-Stop- My Review

Liam Neeson reclaims his title as the penultimate action thriller star of the 21st century in his latest whodunit movie along with Julianne Moore, Michelle Dockery, Anson Mount, Lupita Nyong’o and Scoot McNairy. “Downton Abbey” fans will recognize Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary playing one of the British Crew on board the ill-fated flight from New York to London along with Lupita Nyong’o, from “12 Years a Slave”.

When a movie starts out with the expected hero of the movie drinking alcohol in his car as he’s parked at the airport preparing to board a flight, you know it is not going to be a good day, especially when you figure out that he’s a federal air marshal on board the flight. A quick phone call to his supervisor requesting an immediate return flight and a few days off to take care of pressing personal business reveals the fact that his marriage is falling apart and he has many things on his mind. Being denied his request by his uncaring supervisor exacerbates the situation.

After settling into his seat and encountering some typical seat shuffling to accommodate Julianne Moore’s incessant begging to sit by the window, next to Marshal Marks who strangely hates takeoffs, the plane lifts off on its transatlantic journey as he grips his deceased daughter’s hair ribbon for good luck.

Shortly after takeoff, Marks receives a text message on his secure channel federal marshal’s phone informing him that someone is going to die in 20 minutes and every 20 minutes after that unless $150 million is wired to an account number.

He meets with the other air marshal on the flight in the back of the cabin to inform him of the threat but he is less than cooperative and doesn’t respond as one would expect, putting him under suspicion. They notify the captain and crew of the threat and alert the authorities on the ground, but with Marks’ instability, his veracity is called into question and soon he more or less finds himself not only singlehandedly trying to figure out who is threatening the safety of the 150 passengers on the plane but being accused of being the hijacker himself.

Michelle Dockery, with her modern bobbed hairstyle bears little resemblance to Lady Mary on “Downton Abbey” which she portrays so eloquently. She gives an excellent performance as the flight attendant who is aware of Bill Marks’ problems, delivering a bottle of water when he requests a gin & tonic prior to takeoff,

but still believes in him and stands by him in spite of the evidence showing that he is somehow responsible for the deadly situation threatening her plane full of passengers and his immediate proximity to the dead bodies that start piling up every 20 minutes as warned. Lupita Nyong’o’s character, Gwen is another flight attendant and Corey Stoll keeps you guessing whether he’s a bad guy or a good guy with his spot-on portrayal as an NYPD officer on vacation.

It is very seldom that a movie inspires the theater audience to erupt into applause these days, given the detachment of being in a movie theater absent anyone responsible for the entertainment happening on the screen, but it happened in this film, but I won’t tell you when, because I don’t want to ruin the ending for you! I suspect it will spontaneously happen in many more screenings. I thought that “Non-Stop” was an excellent movie with a plot and storyline that keeps you engaged and guessing all of the way through to the big reveal “Whodunit”.

One of the things I appreciated the most about it was the fact that it is BELIEVABLE, instead of just so outrageous that it could never happen. That’s what makes it so terrifyingly thrilling, because you can see yourself sitting there in one of those empty seats, wondering what you would be feeling and how you would be reacting if it was you.

Please leave your comments and how you felt after reading my review and seeing the movie below! I’ll think twice about flying for a while after seeing this movie! How about you?