Non-Stop (Unranked)

If you really want to see this movie, I will let you know now that there are spoilers. But I very much urge you to not see this horrendously insulting film. And this, my friends, is coming from a very liberal minded person.

I will not rank this movie. I refuse to see this movie considered in my list of movies at the end of the year. It's a mediocre film, filled with shaky camera to hide bad action sequences. Bad plot points litter the thing, with red herrings everywhere and obviously made red herrings. It's a lame mystery at best. But even the good qualities of this film are lost. Liam Neeson's fun character, riddled with action movie cliche's and action hero stupidity (so much of this could have been solved so easily if he wasn't a complete idiot about it), is completely forgotten by me in the films final act. Get ready. This next paragraph is spoilers.

The film follows Neeson's character as a US Air Marshall on a flight to London when he gets a text message warning him that every 20 minutes a passenger will die until $150 million is wired into an account that is revealed to be made in Liam Neeson's name. (Oh wait, it's a trust. We're gonna keep calling it an account and imply bank account, even from the good guys, until it's dramatically convenient for us to reveal that it's actually a trust.) We meet character after character after character leading us on in obviously false misadventures, packed with more plot points for each one than could possibly be necessary. And then the reveal. The horrendous, disgraceful reveal. Who is the terrorist? And why is he doing this?

Well folks, it's a soldier. A soldier who lost his father on 9/11. His plan, to kill someone on this plane every 20 minutes and demand $150 million dollars into the bank account of an Air Marshall to make a statement. That it was somehow Liam Neeson's fault that his father died. That all Air Marshall's are to blame for the 9/11 attacks. That this will make American security tighter. And that this will avenge his fathers death on that tragic day.

Yes, I know. There are other themes of racism (a man wearing a turban who is NOT the terrorist, for example) that should be praised in this film. But the use of such a low blow, a sickening use of a truly tragic event to justify a villain's perceived "just" actions, made me incredibly angry. It's a cheap trick. An attempt to try to make the move relevant somehow. It doesn't work. Not for me. Instead, it makes the film feel childish and insensitive. 

I have friends who lost family members on 9/11. I have family members who worked dangerously close to the towers. I know plenty of people who were affected by the 9/11 attacks. And to depict any survivor in such a way is horrendous. What is this movie trying to accomplish? Is it trying to say that American airline security is too lax? Because I'm pretty sure it took some serious doing to get enough money for an enormous bag of cocaine to hide a military grade bomb in a suitcase, and more money to convince airline security to not stop the also probably highly paid second air marshall from carrying it aboard. How is this easy? Is this supposed to be some knock at American conservatism? Because 9/11 is not something that can be rightly used when so many people still affected by it live every day. I wasn't even directly affected by it, and to see even a fabricated justification of terrorist actions in the name of American security, it made me incredibly angry. 

LETS GET REAL HERE FOR A MINUTE. Conservatives, why are you so mad? Is it because of the obvious turbaned man not being a terrorist? Because that's disgraceful enough. Liberals, what makes this okay? Is it because it has that twist of a white terrorist? Because no one wins in this case. Conservatives, you just watched liberal people prove that extreme American nationalism can result in terrorism, as well as a film that suggests that your privacy should be even more restricted. Liberals, you just watched a movie that had the audacity to suggest that death can be justified as long as its done for the greater good, as well as a film that suggests that more power should be placed into the hands of the big wigs! No one's views are supported and ALL THATS LEFT IS HURT FEELINGS.

I refuse to rank this movie. I refuse to accept that it is remotely on the same scale. To all of my close friends affected by such an insulting plot, I'm sorry that you paid for this. To the rest of you, PLEASE reconsider. There must be a message that gets across that using an event that effected so many people in such an insulting and mean spirited way is not okay.