Neeson’s fear of dying

Non-stop (M)
Starring: Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore
AS IF poor old Qantas didn’t have enough problems.
Liam Neeson action vehicle Non-stop is a film that plays with all of our airborne fears – the claustrophobia, the terrorism, the other passengers, and the long, long fall to the icy ocean below.
Neeson plays Bill Marks, a burnt-out air marshal flying from New York to London.
Bill loves nothing better than to retire to the aircraft toilets for a cigarette and a Scotch (really) at the most awkward moments.
(Other things he likes to do in the flying dunny involve breaking a fellow air marshal’s neck, but that’s another story).
So here’s burn-out Bill, eyes like a road map, on the plane and hating flying, especially take-off and landing.
But it turns out there’s no certainty they will land, because Bill starts getting messages from someone who wants $150 million, or they’ll kill a passenger every 20 minutes.
Cue thrills and spills, poison, fighting, shooting and, basically, all the other stuff that adds a little fun to the monotony of air travel.
The plot is wildly, ridiculously implausible, but it does kick along at a fair old rate and it can be gripping.
You’re a better man than I if you can pick the terrorists hidden among the crew.
Their motives are muddled and literally beyond belief – they’re a sort of ‘al kinda’ of the skies.
But it’s all worth it to see Neeson mugging and grimacing his way through another elderly action man role.
Would it have been better if Neeson had reprised his famous threat? “I’m going to find you. I’m going to find you, and I’m going to kill you.”
Well, yes. But then, you can’t have everything.
– Jason Beck