Non-Stop 2014

     Bill Marks is a US federal air marshal but he is also a former policeman and he’s an alcoholic.  His eight-year-old daughter died of leukemia and drinking is how he deals with her death.  He is on a flight from New York to London and he receives a text on his secure phone.  Unless wire transfer is made to an offshore account paying 150 million dollars, a passenger will die every 20 minutes. Bill contacts his supervisor but he doesn’t believe the story and he tells Bill that the account to receive the money is in Bill’s name?  The supervisor believes that Bill is the terrorist and he advises him to stand down.  A news program feed into the plane gives Bill’s background and names him as the terrorist.  The passengers want to contain Bill to save their lives and the plane.

     This is non-stop and it’s the action.  One problem, a lot of the information is contained in the phone texts shown on the screen and they are difficult to read unless you are right in front of the screen.  This may have been OK in the theater but I watched the DVD.  I wonder if sealing the smoke detector in the lavatory with duct tape will allow you to smoke?  There is a warning on every plane at the beginning of the flight about a federal offence to disable the smoke alarm.  I assume you will be in the clear if you are a federal air marshal?  It’s difficult to figure out who you can trust in this film and could Bill really be going off the deep end?  Many of the actors are very underused in their roles.  3* (This movie is OK)

106 min, Action directed by Jaume Collet-Serra with Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Scoot McNairy, Michelle Dockery, Nate Parker, Corey Stoll, Lupita Nyong’o, Omar Metwally, Jason Butler Harner.

Note:  Imdb 7.0 out of 10, 60% critic 65% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2 ½*.