Unlikely action hero Liam Neeson returns for ‘Non-Stop’ thrills

Neeson and his ‘Unknown’ director deliver a surprisingly serviceable white-knuckler on an ill-fated airline flight.

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  • Universal Pictures
  • RETURN YOUR TRAY TO THE UPRIGHT POSITION: Liam Neeson in ‘Non-Stop’

How good an actor is Liam Neeson? So good that he took a mundanely-phrased line about “a very particular set of skills” and turned it into an unlikely catch-phrase. Quotes and impressions of Neeson from Taken turn up so often, and Neeson’s found such a niche as a cinematic tough guy, it’s like the Oscar-nominated actor has revived his career as the new Chuck Norris.

At 61, Neeson’s action hero presence is not based on fight moves or a pumped-up physique, although he unquestionably has an imposing presence. Instead, Neeson invests his scenes with such intensity that the stakes magnify exponentially whenever he’s around. It’s almost become an annual tradition for Neeson’s gravitas to enhance unambitious thrillers this time of years, with the airplane-set Non-Stop joining the likes of Taken and The Grey.

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Neeson plays Bill Marks (a name nearly as non-descript as Taken’s Bryan Mills) an American air marshal whom we first see spiking his coffee, hinting at his personal demons. Before boarding a transatlantic flight to London, he scopes out the passengers as possible suspects, including a Muslim traveler he profiles by reflex. In a predictable movie irony he hates flying, and a high-strung but friendly passenger (Julianne Moore) comforts him while he white-knuckles through the take-off.

Before he can relax, though, he starts to receive ominous text messages from an individual who knows all about him, demanding $150 or he’ll kill a passenger every 20 minutes. Bill tries to rectify the situation by notifying the English pilots and his American supervisors on the ground, but not only do the threats come true, they unfold in ways that throw suspicion on Bill himself, creating suspicion that our hero is actually a terrorist. (“He could be in the IRA!” someone frets, referring to Bill’s Irish birthplace.)

Non-Stop doesn’t have enough set pieces to qualify as shoot-em-up, but the slow-burning script provides reasonably clever variations on several genres: airline disaster movie, wrong-man tale and locked-room whodunit as Bill tries to find the guilty party among the 150 fellow fliers. Non-Stop draws on the strengths of the better Michael Crichton works, which study technology and emergency procedures for dramatic possibilities.

The film also delivers more social commentary than you’d expect. When Bill takes control of cabin, searching air commuters and detaining suspects, the film feels like a critique of TSA overzealousness. Some indignant passengers (led by “House of Cards’” Corey Stoll) protest and seem prepared to re-enact the ending of United 93. The implicit themes land well enough that it’s unfortunate that they become all too explicit by the end.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra helmed Neeson’s 2011 thriller Unknown and makes the most of the film’s limited locations, choreographing a fight scene in a tiny lavatory. While relatively straight-faced for most of its running time, the film’s last 10 or so minutes take a nose-dive towards unabashed silliness, with impossible stunts and impossible corny twists. You can nevertheless enjoy the ending as a slice of complementary cheese.

Non-Stop frequently relies on my favorite new film cliché, on-screen word bubbles visible when a character reads an instant message. (I associate the technique with “Sherlock,” but it’s practically everywhere.) Given that Non-Stop’s villain texts for most of the film’s running time, the detail reveals one of Neeson’s strengths. Like his threatening cell-phone conversation in Taken, Neeson commands our interest while playing off practically nothing. That takes a very particular set of skills.

Non-Stop. 3 stars. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Stars Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore. Rated PG-13. Opens Feb. 28. At area theaters.