NON-STOP (12A, 106 mins) ** Starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Michelle Dockery, Scoot McNairy, Nate Parker, Corey Stoll, Lupita Nyong’o, Omar Metwally, Linus Roache, Jason Butler Harner, Anson Mount. Director: Jaume Collet-Serra.

Passenger airplanes are a perfect environment for taut, edge-of-seat thrillers.

The setting is confined and claustrophobic, the passengers excited and nervous, and the recycled air thick with tension and the waft of pre-packaged food.

Non-Stop continues the big screen bumpy ride by pitting an emotionally scarred, booze-sodden Federal Air Marshal (Neeson) against a deranged serial killer during a transatlantic flight from New York to London.

Any of the 146 passengers could be the killer or the next victim, we’re kept guessing who, if anyone, will survive the airborne slaughter.

While the premise is neat and the action sequences orchestrated with aplomb, the script comes unstuck when it comes to plausibility.

Bill Marks (Neeson) boards a busy flight, trading knowing glances with friends and colleagues including flight attendant Nancy (Dockery).

As the lights dim to allow passengers to sleep, Marks receives a series of cryptic messages via a secure channel on his handheld device.

“In exactly 20 minutes, I’m going to kill someone on this plane,” boasts the sender.

To prevent bloodshed, all Marks must do is transfer 150 million dollars to an off-shore account before the deadline expires.

Captain David McMillan (Roache) and co-pilot Kyle Rice (Butler Harner) are sceptical about the authenticity of the threat.

Alas, the puppetmaster’s threat becomes chilling reality and Marks spearheads a one-man crusade to unmask the terrorist in his midst.

Prime suspects include seasoned traveller Jenn Summers (Moore), off-duty NYPD officer Austin Reilly (Stoll), school teacher Tom Bowen (McNairy), technical wizard Zack White (Parker) and air stewardess Gwen (Nyong’o).

The mission is compromised when authorities discover the bank account is registered in Marks’s name, suggesting he is the diabolical genius behind the plan.

Non-Stop almost lives up to its name in terms of thrills and spills.

Alas, the clunkiness of the script ultimately sends the film into a tailspin and the histrionics of the final act feel rushed and unsatisfying.

Neeson continues his renaissance as a grizzled yet sensitive action hero, and supporting performances are adequate, but some of the twists demand we suspend disbelief far above the doomed flight in the stratosphere.