Non-Stop 2014

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Why demand logic of an action movie released in February, when audiences just want a nice, bumpy ride? Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: Anyone planning to see Non-Stop should probably just go see it. This is one of those near-perfect, peeled-onion, airplane-hijacking thrillers in which each removed layer brings you closer to a single, happy tear. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: All the tedium of an endless trans-Atlantic flight gets packed into the 105 minutes of "Non-Stop,'' a preposterous "thriller'' providing Oscar winner-turned action star Liam Neeson with his latest paycheck job. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: What holds the movie together, and us in its thrall, is Mr. Neeson's big, often bludgeony presence. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Primarily serving as a vehicle to demonstrate that Liam Neeson has now perfected his Harrison Ford Growl, "Non-Stop" is a by-the-numbers action flick that goes exactly where you think it's going. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: Even in the movie's most ridiculous moments, Collet-Serra keeps the pacing brisk and knows how to divert our attention with a well-timed bit of comic relief. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: Non-Stop is one of the most purely enjoyable entries in the ongoing cycle of Liam Neeson action-thrillers, tempering the star's gruff strongman antics with surveillance-state commentary that's more clever than subversive. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: A movie that begins with a somewhat promising premise but quickly devolves into a dopey action thriller. Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: As with so many high-concept films, it takes an awful lot of implausibility to keep the story airborne. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The movie's preposterous, complicated, and a fair amount of fun until it tries to make sense in the final ten minutes. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: The filmmaking is playful without feeling jokey, the narrative stuffed with fun complications. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The movie's fun. And now, thanks to our annual Neeson thriller, spring can come soon. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: It's all fairly entertaining and eminently disposable. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: "Non-Stop" spends so much time trying to outwit the audience it ends up outwitting itself. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: Non-Stop [is] an efficiently made exercise in airplane claustrophobia that takes off well enough but then crash-lands in the third act under the weight of its red herrings, improbability and plot twists. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: At a certain point either you'll fasten your seat belt and go with Non-Stop's absurd, Looney Tunes logic or you won't. Against my better judgment, I went with it. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: A jerry-rigged terror-on-a-plane thriller with a premise so far-fetched as to create a degree of suspense over how the writers will wriggle out of the knot of their own making. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: "Non-Stop" is a crisp, efficient thriller that benefits greatly from the intangibles Neeson can be counted on to supply. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: "Non-Stop" may be a tad derivative -- you could call it "Sky Hard" -- and its ending crash-lands in more ways than one. When all its engines are firing, however, it's a heck of a ride. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Neeson, who brings enormous conviction to these late-career action roles, moves his big body through confined spaces ... with so much power that you expect him to rip out the seats. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's both ridiculous and a little rote; Neeson has worn this genre into a rut and he still has a few more action pics lined up, one of them with the same director. Read more

Ian Buckwalter, NPR: Neeson does indeed have a very particular set of skills - in elevating the generic action thriller into guilt-free popcorn pleasure. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: There's an enjoyable, go-for-broke bullishness in "Non-Stop" that echoes its star, Liam Neeson. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: "Non-Stop" doesn't make any sense, but that's expected, uninteresting and incidental to the pleasures of a slow-season Liam Neeson release as diverting as this one. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: Everywhere you look there's someone fun to watch. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Non-Stop gets increasingly far-fetched as the jet makes its way across the Atlantic. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Non-Stop plays like what might happen if Michael Bay directed a screenplay developed for Alfred Hitchcock. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Until a preposterous ending that tries to turn a popcorn movie profound by making it topical, Non-Stop gets the job done. It's fun to watch audiences jump in their seats and go, "Eek!" Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: I not only enjoyed "Non-Stop," but I'd watch it again. Particularly on a plane. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: What a waste of a great premise: a locked-room mystery at 30,000 feet. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: I've never spoken this fuzzy phrase in conversation, let alone written it in a movie review, but it applies perfectly to the formulaic action flick "Non-Stop": It is what it is. Read more

Dave McGinn, Globe and Mail: The problem is that Non-Stop tries to be something it's not. It has one too many scenes that border on ludicrous, and the big reveal barely makes sense. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: Sure to please audiences and confound critics and cinephiles who are sticklers for plausible plotting. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: A cheesy delight, down to its improbable plot twists and the inevitable appearance of a red LED display showing how long Bill has to rescue passengers and crew before everything goes kablooey. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Non-Stop reaches for some pointed post-9/11 political commentary that almost entirely exceeds its grasp. Total brainlessness, in this case, would have been a virtue. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: What it lacks in believability it makes up for in strong performances. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: Nobody's demanding an action-thriller plot that's 100 percent plausible. But is 55 percent too much to ask? Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Neeson is such an eloquent hunk of Irish melancholy that he gives everything he does - snapping a neck or taking a drink of water - a classical gravitas. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: It's the propulsive pace of the film and the nice sense of suspense it builds that help most in glossing over its failings. Read more