Non-Stop Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Non-Stop Blu-ray Movie Review

No return flight available...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown May 29, 2014

"Thrilling and intense," screams Non-Stop's cover art. "A taught, suspenseful thriller in the vein of Hitchcock," raves a random Midwestern critic trying much too hard to achieve poster-quote fame. Adding, "with an ending you won't see coming!" Is Jaume Collet-Serra's Non-Stop thrilling? Sure. Intense? You bet. Suspenseful? Absolutely. Hitchcockian? In many ways, yes. Strands of its DNA are ripped straight from the Master of Suspense and, for a while, it sorta, kinda, almost works. (Squinting and staring at the script sideways helps too.) Stop, pause or take a breath, though, and it all starts to unravel. And good God, don't for a second actually devote any thought to anything that happens on screen. For all its turbulent twisting and turning, the film is a gripping but brainless pileup of plot holes and impossible leaps in logic that gets less and less plausible as it hurtles toward its ludicrous endgame. Collet-Serra not only goes to inhuman lengths to make every passenger, flight attendant, air marshal and pilot a suspect, he manufacturers tension with increasingly contrived tricks of the genre trade, only to burn it all to the ground with a ridiculous third act that shows something akin to contempt for any good will its audience has invested.

During a seemingly routine transatlantic flight from New York to London, burned-out veteran U.S. Air Marshal Bill Marks (Liam Neeson) begins receiving a series of cryptic text messages threatening that a passenger will die every twenty minutes unless $150 million is transferred into an off-shore bank account. With the lives of hundreds of passengers hanging in the balance, including that of Jen Summers (Julianne Moore), one of the only people he can trust, Bill must draw on all of his training and skill to uncover the identity of the killer traveling aboard the aircraft.

Non-Stop is as frantic and busy as it is exhausting. Sideways glances, shifty passengers, suspicious faces, questionable motives, claustrophobia, a ticking clock, an abundance of cell phones (each with too-good-to-be-true service), and a devious plot to frame Marks as the terrorist mastermind conspire to make Collet-Serra's slowburn, 40,000-feet actioner a sweaty, jittery misfire of modern suspense. Hanging more than its hat on post-9/11 anxieties, the film fancies itself much smarter and savvier than it really is, falling back on small but sleek spectacle and cheap sleight of hand whenever it's struggling to deliver. It's noisy but never quite resonates. 'Splodey but rarely explosive. Familiar and derivative, even at its most clever. Big Dumb Fun without the self-awareness to realize it isn't a high class thriller. But it would be passable -- exhilarating perhaps -- if it weren't for the third act. The jump-the-shark revelations surrounding the film's true villain are so misguided and silly they're downright anticlimactic. Despite the potential Non-Stop toys with in earlier scenes, the ending out-Shyamalans Shyamalan with a bone-headed *gotcha* twist that bursts into flames long before it crashes. Even those who haven't checked out before the last twenty minutes will have difficulty suppressing the urge to laugh in utter disbelief.

But I suppose that only applies if you're the type of filmfan itching to examine narrative, story structure or plot developments in any meaningful way. Switch off your critical cortex, shove your hand in a bowl of butter-slathered popcorn and pretend Non-Stop's script is meant to be as blustery as it is and you won't be quite so disappointed. (Quick test: did you enjoy Robert Schwentke's Flightplan? Are you game for a weirdly similar experience? Then look no further, this one's for you.) Neeson, Moore, Corey Stoll (House of Cards) and a few others accomplish a lot with very little, despite a host of supporting actors who were apparently paid to do little more than scowl, stare menacingly and rouse suspicion. Neeson in particular continues to settle into his role as Action Movie New God nicely -- even if his collection of lone hero thrillers is getting a bit ungainly -- and his brains-over-brawn search, aisle by aisle investigation and eventual mid-flight fisticuffs are, if nothing else, exciting to follow. But Neeson's prowess can only pull Non-Stop out of the muck, it can't clean it up. Beyond some of the performances and a handful of admittedly well-executed action beats and extended stretches of tension, it's a bit of a muddy mess bound for the bargain bin.

Non-Stop Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Blu-ray edition of Non-Stop features a crisp, proficient 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer faithful to Collet-Serra and cinematographer Flavio Martínez Labiano's intentions. Shot in 35mm, the film looks every bit as good as it did in theaters and exhibits all the qualities it should. Colors are strong, black levels are deep and skintones are relatively well-saturated, even though Labiano's palette is heavily graded toward teal and blue. Detail is excellent, with clean, sharply defined edges (sans any ringing or halos), revealing fine textures and a properly filmic veneer of grain. Delineation delivers too, as does contrast, which is consistently vibrant. There is some softness, yes, but it's completely optical and unrelated to the encode. There are also instances of crush, although nothing too debilitating. Otherwise, the presentation is problem free, without anything in the way of significant macroblocking, banding or aliasing. Non-Stop may not have engaged me at every turn, but its video encode certainly did.

Non-Stop Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track effectively recreates the tight, confined spaces of an aircraft with precision-crafted directionality, slick pans and a suitably claustrophobic soundfield that crams the listener right alongside Liam Neeson. Beneath all the ambience and atmosphere too lies a ticking bomb LFE experience that reigns in its power before unleashing its fury whenever Marks and the plane are in danger. The third act is especially enveloping, with all the sonic chaos you'd expect from the type of mano e mano conflict that unfolds. Dialogue remains clean, clear and carefully prioritized throughout as well, and dynamics are terrific, without anything in the way of a series issue. Yes, the music comes on a tad strong at times, but only by design. Fans of the film will be most pleased.

Non-Stop Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extras included on the Blu-ray edition of Non-Stop are two short behind-the-scenes featurettes -- "Non-Stop Action" (HD, 5 minutes) and "Suspense at 40,000 Feet" (HD, 8 minutes) -- both of which offer little more than surface-skimming overviews of the film and production with plenty of talking-head interview segments to go around.

Non-Stop Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Action movies are a dime a bullet these days, which makes a suspense thriller like Non-Stop a promising prospect. Methodical and meticulous, it aims to be a brainy, Hitchcockian actioner, heavy on mystery, cloaked identity and shocker upon shocker; a who's-doin-it with nerve and, indeed, a flash of firearms near film's end. Instead, it's yet another misguided movie in February blockbuster's clothing. Liam Neeson is a strong presence, backed by an equally effective Julianne Moore, but the story and script are pure style over substance, with a third act that defies plausibility and a reveal that's as unbelievable as they come. What little enjoyment there is to be had quickly drains away, leaving a hollow husk of a laughable twist few will accept, much less embrace. Fortunately, Universal's Blu-ray release helps alleviate some of the inevitable disappointment with an excellent video presentation and an absorbing DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. There isn't much supplemental content to speak of, but so it goes. Is it enough to make Non-Stop worth a rent? Why not? I'm sure some Liam Neeson fans will even find enough forgiveness in their hearts for Non-Stop's flaws to enjoy the ride. Just a little advice: don't stop to think about the plot -- or rather the plot holes -- for very long if you want that enjoyment to last.