While I bobbled along on the tide of image proliferation, Liam Neeson fandom crept up on me on little cat feet. Non-Stop, his current air travel thriller, did the trick. I've seen the pretty good (Kinsey), the outright crappy (The Grey) and the in-between (a Star Wars vehicle, Before and After, A-Team, etc.). He came near to getting a statuette for Schindler's List but came up against Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven. Like Clint, he's aging into a grizzled eminence that prowls the washed-up-tough-guy roles he's made his metier.
Never mind Hollywood's constant flogging of shoddy products, periodically they hit pay dirt. In Non-Stop, Liam has to pick a murderer out of a motley mix of airline passengers who are being picked off at a steady clip. It's Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians at 30,00 feet. Will it be the Muslim? The mouthy black dude? The geeky nerd? Maybe the Julianne Moore character? Or is Liam a washed up schizophrenic? No spoilers here, but it's hard to deny the vulnerability of a commercial jet, far over the Atlantic, with wickedness afoot. And while there are brief interludes rigged for pathos, I found myself glad to be watching and not flying on that particular flight. The audience whooped at the end, partly out of sheer nervous flight fatigue and partly cuz Liam rocks it.
PS - For a funny take on Liam Neeson, or Neesons, as they call him, check out Key and Peele's sketch:
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/4494cb/key-and-peele-what-about--non-stop---though-
Next Up: Nymphomaniac
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