Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Bill Marks is a Federal Air Marshall for whom every day is the same until this one. On this plane ride, he starts receiving text messages from someone claiming to be on the flight and threatening to kill passengers. In a race against the clock, he must identify and stop the killer to save everyone on board.
Non-Stop is a competent mid-budget thriller that makes solid use of its confined airplane setting to generate genuine tension. Liam Neeson anchors the film with his reliable action-hero gravitas, and the supporting cast (Julianne Moore, Lupita Nyong'o) adds credibility. However, the plot relies heavily on genre contrivances and the mystery killer premise, while initially engaging, unravels into an implausible and unsatisfying reveal in the third act. Cinematography is functional but unremarkable given the constrained setting. The film treads familiar Neeson action-thriller territory with little to distinguish it from similar entries in his post-Taken filmography, making it derivative rather than distinctive.