We arrive at Christmas time and who says tree, garland and gifts says… a good one action thriller on Netflix ! Yes, it has almost nothing to do with it. Almost. Because today, we are interested in a film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and that the filmmaker signed, earlier in the year, Carry-On on Netflix, a rather well-kept action thriller which took place… during the winter holiday season! Moreover, the main actor of our subject was one of the stars of Love Actuallyalso a Christmas film. Evil tongues will say that this introduction is a bit capillotracted, but who can stop us?
Non-Stop is therefore a film by Collet-Serra, director soon to be at the helm of a remake of the brilliant Cliffhanger (yes, he’s great) and to whom we owe the work which was to upset the balance of power in the late DC, Black Adam. He also has a slew of footage with Liam Neeson to his credit, as Without Identity, Night Run and, in 2014, Non-Stop exactly ! Everything is linked, we tell you. A film more than ten years old which is currently accessing the Top 10 Netflixbecause there’s nothing wrong with wanting to dodge Christmas romances. But is it really better than the latter?
The story of Non-Stop
Bill Marks is an Air Marshal (or an air marshal in less classy French) whose job is to disguise himself as a passenger to protect flights from any threat. Experienced, he takes his place aboard a plane New York – Londontaking with him his demons, his traumas and his bottle of alcohol. Stunned by a personal tragedy, he is on a steep slope.
In the middle of the journey, he receives a text message from a stranger on boarddemanding $150 million, otherwise one of the two hundred passengers will die every twenty minutes. A race against time begins to try to save the travelers while locating the person responsible.
Is there a cop on the plane?
If Liam Neeson broke his image of an aging Action Man a little with the recent remake of Is there a copthe actor – who we really like – has experienced/is experiencing a long period of hardship in his career choices since the immense success of Taken in 2008. To put it simply, the only thing that sets his projects apart from those of Jason Statham is the hair. From theatrical films to SVOD or Direct-to-Video productions, he still embodies this guy damaged by life who wants to spend peaceful days until he is forced to take out the guns. Non-Stop is a worthy representative of this period.
The good news is that this allows the actor to approach these roles with a certain automatism making it effective in any environment. So sending him on a plane in the sky with a gun, cigarettes, a bottle of whiskey and a terrorist threat, he could almost call it a Thursday. The icing on the cake, we sit it next to a Julianne Moore who clearly has rent to pay, as she won’t shine in the film.
We have fun with it, but we must recognize that Non-Stop is highly appreciable for those who will let themselves be lulled by the screenplay by John W. Richardson, Chris Roach and Ryan Engle, written as a refrain composed of a false lead, an action sequence, a twist and a revelation. The feature film is designed to never leave us a minute to think about the who, the why and the how, in order to follow the dictated rhythm to the letter. As such, it must be admitted that it works since the minutes pass without us really feeling the time passed. Do you want an action thriller where you won’t get bored? Ce Speed in less fun offers us what we could expect.
A film that should have ended sooner.
Obviously, this requires the existence of a form of contract between the film and the spectator. The first makes sure to occupy the attention, while the second agrees not to look at the story too closely. Because otherwise, the Jenga collapses from the first piece removed, the moment we look at everything that doesn’t fit from one revelation to the next, or rather from one facility to the next. Because the scenario obviously avoids answering certain questions essential to a good plot quickly moving on to another event. The wasp is not crazy.
A strategy that works, at least in its first two thirds. Once the last act begins, we have the feeling that the whole team is proud of their work and that they can relax. Suddenly, we face a sort of horse release with scenes and revelations that definitely no longer have any meaning, except for the simple principle of not having seen it coming. Which is indeed the case, since it was difficult to imagine the mess. And what about this pseudo message on the September 11 trauma and their consequences, symptomatic of a film which was above all looking for a pretext rather than a reason to exist.
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Ultimately, Non-Stop Although he may be a little stupid, he’s not bad and manages to hold his audience almost until the end. In the long list of Liam Neeson’s lame projects, we’ve seen worse. On Netflix too. And then it’s that, or the story of Carol, this New York working girl returning to her small hometown, and who meets Joey, a carpenter and father trying to overcome the death of his wife.
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