Page 22 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • March 12, 2014 Danger, terrorism, and red herrings at 30,000 feet by Dennis Seuling “Non-Stop” falls into the well traveled cinematic cat- egory of “melodrama in the air.” The genre goes back to “Zero Hour” (the 1957 drama that inspired the hilarious “Airplane!”) and continues through “The High and the Mighty” (1954), “Airport” (1970), and countless others -- including “Snakes on a Plane” (2006). The hero this time is Bill Marks (Liam Neeson), an air marshal with a serious drinking problem. His life is not going well and he is in nearly bare-knuckled panic as his plane takes off. Fellow passenger Jen Summers (Julianne Moore) speaks soothingly to him and calms his nerves, but his peace of mind doesn’t last long. A text message blinks onto his phone from an unknown party on the plane threatening that someone on board will die every 20 minutes unless a $150 million ransom is paid. Marks initially suspects a prank in bad taste but none- theless takes the text seriously and attempts to discover the sender. To avoid panicking the 150 passengers aboard, he must do this discreetly. He gets help from flight atten- dant Nancy (Michelle Dockery, “Downton Abbey”) and Jen, who has won his confidence. He is also in contact with his superiors on the ground. Director Jaume Collet-Sera and scriptwriter John W. Richardson build suspense by throwing suspicion on assorted passengers and making clear that Marks, suffer- ing from a recent personal loss and alcohol abuse, is not the perfect hero. Lately, Neeson has made a career of playing the mild- mannered man who transforms into an action hero when circumstances necessitate it. Unlike the earlier “Taken” or “Unknown,” however, “Non-Stop” restricts his der- Bill Marks (Liam Neeson) and airline passenger Jen (Julianne Moore) look at a suspicious text message in ‘Non-Stop.’ ring-do with a claustrophobic setting full of people who would surely panic if they knew the danger facing them. Moore’s Jen is a woman who seems all too calm despite knowing the danger facing the plane. She is first seen as jittery and annoying, asking people to change places with her so she can have a window seat. Is this some sort of airplane phobia, or something more? When Marks enlists her assistance, she agrees immediately. Why is she so cooperative? Can this be a cover for something more devious? In whodunits of this type, it’s formulaic to shine sus- picion on as many people as possible in order to keep the audience guessing even when things seem clear. Direc- tor Collet-Sera does this well, and supplies an interesting variation by directing suspicion, at one point, at Marks himself. Unfortunately, the final third of the movie is a let- down. Once the guilty party is revealed and the motivation explained, the drama falters. It appears the writer wrote a solid two-thirds of a screenplay and then ran up against a credibility wall. Neeson delivers a solid performance and the movie is entertaining enough, but it could have been much richer had the resolution made better sense. Rated PG-13, “Non-Stop” plays like an in-flight Agatha Christie mystery. An assortment of suspects is paraded in showy vignettes, giving the audience time to wonder about them, while the suspense mounts as the clock literally ticks down to impending death. Advertise your restaurant in The Villadom TIMES. You’ll reach over 47,000 households. 201-652-0744 www.villadom.com Cook Up Some Business!