Is Liam Neeson even trying anymore? His movie scripts these days seem to be Mad Libs: One man must face [insert adversary] using his special set of skills or else [insert threat]. From vague ethnic groups in “Taken” to wolves in “The Grey” to something we can’t remember in “Unknown,” Neeson has been punching and kicking his way into a steady string of mediocre box office hits. That’s right America, “Non-Stop” is your fault.
The first trailer for the thriller is here, and it’s hard to tell if it’s being serious or is some elaborate parody of Liam Neeson movies. From eye-rolling visual tics like text messages on the screen, this movie rolls out every dumb cliché there is. From an unseen villain asking (via text), “Do I have your attention now”? to a literal ticking bomb to a frame-up to the old “I’m going to keep killing people unless….,” we can’t believe this needed two screenwriters to write (and it can’t have taken them more than an afternoon).
Jaume Collet-Serra directs this slop, though if there’s one silver lining, it’s hipster-nerd-babe Julianne Moore (see below) who we’d date in a second. “Non-Stop” takes off on February 28th.