NON-STOP

Liam Neeson surprised us all back in 2008 with Taken, a film that saw his reputation in action movies propel to heights even Neeson himself would be confused about. It was a fast-paced revenge story that saw Neeson play a man trying to find his kidnapped daughter.

Since then, Neeson has only starred in one other action movie that I would recommend to anybody. That was The Grey back in 2012. It was good but nothing amazing. As far as I'm concerned, Neeson's career in action movies should have stopped with Taken. 

Then comes Non-Stop, a film that I found so hard to watch, I ended up treating the last 30 minutes as a comedy. It is bad and I am sad to report that Neeson is one of the main reasons for this.

Neeson plays U.S. air marshal, Bill Marks, who faces a race against time when an unknown threat on his flight, through a series of text messages, puts the lives of all passengers on board in danger. 

$150 million must be transferred into an off-shore account or a passenger will die every 20 minutes.

Bill Marks (Liam Neeson) searches frantically for the unknown threat

What starts as an intense thriller inevitably turns into a dumb action movie with an over-the-top ending and an absolute shambles of a script.

That's the trouble with a film like this. A strong opening is worth nothing unless it is followed by a worthy ending. The finale to Non-Stop had me cringing in my seat and feeling embarrassed for Liam Neeson.

It has come to the point where Neeson seems to be coasting through these second-rate action movies in snooze mode, a bit like Bruce Willis these days.

As I said before, Non-Stop opens promisingly. Just a shame that they decided to veer so far away from the promising route. These films can be so bad that they end up being good and in all honesty I went into Non-Stop thinking I would enjoy it. I tried to, I really did, but I just couldn't. 

Verdict: 1/5