Thrillers aren’t terribly complicated. You can complicate them, adding depth or a theme or some sort of social commentary. But all you need for a solid thriller are a tough actor (or actress) for the lead, a mystery and high stakes. And those are the elements Non-Stop rides to success.
Liam Neeson plays Bill Marks, an alcoholic air marshal with personal demons responsible for a plane bound for London. After a too-long opening act that is obviously meant to set up the suspects, Marks gets a text message threatening to kill someone on the plane every 20 minutes unless cash is wired to an account. And we’re off.
There are some hiccups here. The movie struggles from trailer spoilers, an all-too-common pet peeve. And the motivation of the villains, when it is finally revealed, seems confused. (And there are some parts of the plot that are never really explained.) But it’s fine if you don’t put too much thought into it.
And most of is aren’t expecting to think that much when we go to a thriller. Non-Stop might taxi for too long, and there’s nothing particularly special about it, but the end is well worth it.
