Imposters #41: Non-Stop

It's odd - the poster for Non-Stop is in no way bad. It conveys a moment of action, one which should interest the viewer while also informing them about the film's story. It's considered incredibly dumb (and illegal) to discharge a weapon on a plane, but fine. Similarly, the tagline should engage a bystander even further - the protagonist is facing a deceptive and complex situation.

Yet it's hard to feel too good about this. Neeson is a fine dramatic actor, and Hollywood has been leaning on him a lot over the last 6 or so years to turn the man into an action star. Also he's Irish, so we already know life has treated him poorly. I guess if I want anyone to earn those big, fat blockbuster action paychecks, it's Mr. Liam Neeson, but...

But I can recollect how I always thought of Nick Cage as a fine and exciting actor. I recall my happiness for him when he earned those fat ducats for his unlikely lead in Michael Bay's The Rock. And I remember that, soon thereafter, much of his work was in the realm of really silly performances in truly dumb films.

As to the rest of the poster itself, I really like the tilted angle of the picture. I think it's a bit unfair to promote the star and not the writer or director, but Mr. Neeson has such goodwill - with myself and audiences in general - that I don't really care. The yellow color of the title works nicely against the rest of the hues in the image. It's also worth noting that yellow is commonly used as a warning color, so that works well with the film, too.

It might seem a bit hypocritical to deride so many posters for using big shots of their star in the poster, and yet to not complain about the same here. Again, the distinction is partly out of my appreciation for Neeson, but it's also because many of the promos I criticize simply show people standing around, or in repose. In this case, the image conveys action, and nicely - and so it gets my thumbs up.