PG-13, 106 minutes

Starring- Liam Neeson, Juliane Moore, Michelle Dockary

3.5/5 Stars

Neeson’s still got the goods! Liam Neeson stars as Bill Marks, an alcoholic Air Marshall who is mourning the loss of his daughter. On board a flight to London, Marks receives information from a blocked number revealing a terrorist who threatens to kill a passenger on the plane every twenty minutes until $150 Million are deposited to an account, under Bill Marks name. Bill teams up with fellow passenger Jen (Moore) and flight attendant Nancy (Dockary) to find the terrorist before the plane is empty of life save for Marks and the terrorist.

With Neeson’s hugely successful portrayal of distant father/ retired CIA agent Bryan Mills in 2008’s Taken, Neeson has soared to the nearly unbelievable level of becoming a Hollywood action star in his sixties. There have been hits (Taken, 2011’s Unknown) and misses (2012’s Wrath of the Titans and Battleship) and happily Non-Stop can be checked off as a surprising hit. The film is bolstered above the norm of plane hijacking films by its incredible cast led by the always confident and astute Neeson, who makes unrecognizable accents filled with growled barks a necessity for action films now.

Strong acting and decent thrills are all fine and good, but what sets Non-Stop just above some of Neeson’s past action misses is that in this, Neeson is able to portray a well rounded, humanistic character that prevents the audience from not rooting for him. The film largely is taut and tense with typical Neeson badassery. The problems lie in the end which is rushed, convoluted, and lackluster on feel and intensity.

Still with these faults, Non-Stop proves to be a surprisingly enjoyable thrill ride of a movie. Good acting by the cast with engaging thrills and suspense manage to overcome the films otherwise silly plot and poor ending. Non-Stop is nonstop Liam Neeson fun.