Trama

An air marshal springs into action during a transatlantic flight after receiving a series of text messages demanding $150 million into an off-shore account, or someone will die every 20 minutes.

Bill Marks, a former cop dealing with his daughter's death by drinking, is now a federal air marshal. While on a flight from New York to London, Marks gets a text telling him that unless 150 million dollars is transferred to an offshore account, someone will die every 20 minutes. Can he find the terrorist in time and save everyone?—rcs0411@yahoo.com

From the moment we first meet Air Marshal Bill Marks (Neeson), it's apparent his nerves are frayed. After furtively knocking back a stiff drink in the airport parking lot, he enters the crowded terminal to board a plane bound for London. Carefully observing his fellow travelers along the way, Marks eventually ends up seated next to nervous flyer Jen (Julianne Moore), who begins to breathe easier once she's seated near a window. Later, as the plane hits cruising altitude, Marks receives a mysterious text message stating that a passenger on the flight will be killed every 20 minutes unless $150 million is deposited into a secure bank account. But the harder Marks works to identify a suspect, the deeper he implicates himself in what becomes a deadly hostage crisis unfolding at 30,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean. When it's revealed that the account for the ransom money is in Marks' name, the FAA revokes his marshal status and the media paints him as a hijacker. As the frightened passengers begin to turn on Marks, he suspects the true culprit may not even be on the plane. And with the help of Jen and perceptive airline hostess Nancy (Michelle Dockery), he attempts to clear his name and protect the passengers by any means possible..

With his life slowly falling apart, the Federal Air Marshal, Bill Marks, takes a non-stop transatlantic flight from New York City to London. But, shortly after take-off, Marks starts receiving a series of anonymous text messages from an unseen adversary who is threatening him that, unless $150 million is deposited in a special off-shore account, one passenger on the plane will die every twenty minutes. Now, not knowing who to trust, Bill finds himself in the middle of a dangerous cat-and-mouse game, and the clock is ticking. Who's behind this deadly conspiracy? Can Marks have the death of an innocent on his conscience?—Nick Riganas

Bill Marks (Liam Neeson) is an alcoholic U.S. federal air marshal. He enrolled in the Air Marshal service after he was discharged from the police force. On a non-stop flight from New York to London aboard British Aqualantic Flight 10, midway over the Atlantic Ocean, Marks sits next to Jen Summers in business class, who has switched seats so that she can sit by the window. Marks receives text messages on his secure phone stating that someone on the plane will die every 20 minutes unless $150 million is transferred into a specific bank account.

Defying standard procedure, air marshal Bill Marks seeks help from his colleague Jack Hammond (Anson Mount), the only other federal officer on board, so they can coordinate a response. At the same time, Marks orders TSA agent Summers and veteran flight attendant Nancy (Michelle Dockery) to watch the aircraft's surveillance feeds continuously. As the trio scans the cameras, Marks maintains a tense, rapid-fire text dialogue with the unknown blackmailer, hoping the live video will reveal the culprit's identity before the threat escalates.

With the timer hovering just shy of the twenty-minute deadline, Bill Marks spots Jack Hammond furtively thumbing his phone in the aisle and closes in. Cornered, Hammond abandons protocol and, with a nervous half-smile, offers Marks a hefty bribe, an act that crystallizes every suspicion already gnawing at the air marshal. The exchange explodes into a brutal close-quarters struggle that ends, almost to the second, at the twenty-minute mark, when Marks is forced to shoot his colleague. Rifling through Hammond's briefcase afterward, Marks uncovers packets of cocaine alongside damning messages that reveal Hammond was being extorted: the unseen mastermind had threatened him, framed him with the drugs, and steered him toward a death he could never escape.

This occurs exactly at the 20-minute mark, resulting in the first death. Marks alerts the TSA, but TSA Agent Marenick (Shea Whigham) informs Marks that the bank account is registered in his name and accuses him of being the perpetrator.

As Marks attempts to stall for time with the Texter, he works with the flight crew and Jen Summers (Julianne Moore), who sits next to Marks, to discover the Texter's identity. When the time runs out again, the captain suddenly dies of poisoning, but co-pilot First Officer Kyle Rice convinces Marks that he is innocent.

The public becomes convinced that Marks is hijacking the plane, as the bank account is in his name. Marks searches the resentful passengers, where one of them uploads a video in which Marks accuses and manhandles schoolteacher Tom Bowen, convincing the rest of the world that Marks is the perpetrator.

Co-pilot Kyle Rice (Jason Butler Harner) has been instructed by the TSA to ignore Marks and land in Iceland, the closest destination. He diverts the plane but continues to cautiously trust Mark. Mark has cell phone programmer Zack White (Nate Parker) design a hack which will cause the Texter's cell phone to ring. The phone rings in passenger Charles Wheeler's (Frank Deal) suit pocket, but he denies it is his. As Marks roughly questions him, Wheeler suddenly dies, foaming at the mouth.

In the first-class lavatory, Marks discovers a hole drilled into the wall that offers a clear shot to the pilot's seat and discovers a dart in Wheeler's body. A passenger tells him that Summers entered the lavatory recently. Marks accuses Summers of being the hijacker. Summers becomes upset as she had stood by him and convinces him of her innocence. Two RAF Typhoon fighter jets meet the plane to escort it to a military base in Iceland.

While Marks and Summers try to gain access to the Texter's phone, it suddenly activates, sending automated messages to TSA implying that Marks is suicidal and is going to detonate a bomb on the plane. Unlocking the phone also unintentionally starts a 30-minute timer for a bomb. Through words in a television news report claiming that Marks is hijacking their flight, Marks realizes that the bomb bypassed the security checks, and finds it in Hammond's cocaine briefcase.

Unable to land the plane in time, he attempts to initiate a protocol of least damage: by bringing the plane to 8,000 feet to equalize air pressure, placing the bomb in the rear of the plane, covering it with baggage and moving the passengers to the front in order to contain the explosion and minimize casualties. Marks urges Rice to follow explosive protocol and descend from 30,000 to 8,000 feet, although the escorting jets refuse to let Rice deviate from his course.

As he begins to initiate these actions, some of the passengers attempt to disable Marks, convinced by the media that he is a terrorist. They overpower Marks but are stopped when passenger Tom Bowen (Scoot McNairy) uses Marks's gun to make them move away. Marks finally explains the situation to them, and they agree to work with him.

Watching a video clip of himself handling passengers, Marks notices Bowen, whom he had initially cleared of any suspicion, slipping the Texter's phone into the pocket of the second poison victim. White reveals himself as Bowen's accomplice. Realizing that Bowen is the culprit, Marks engages him in a fight, and by then it was revealed that Bowen's father was killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and that he and White are ex-military.

Bowen was appalled by the lack of security at U.S. airports after 9/11, hoping that framing Marks as a terrorist will lead to drastically increased security.

Marks persuades White (who was in it for the money) to try to disarm the bomb. Bowen, who wishes to die on the plane in a suicide mission, double-crosses White and shoots him. Rice rapidly descends the aircraft to 8,000 feet, giving Marks the opportunity to kill Bowen. White regains consciousness and attacks Marks, but the bomb detonates, killing him and blowing open the back of the plane.

Rice manages an emergency crash-landing at an air base in Iceland after the bomb explodes, disregarding orders from his fighter plane escort. Despite their warnings, the fighter planes do not shoot the plane down. The plane is damaged in the landing and a young girl named Becca (Quinn McColgan) is almost sucked out the hole in the plane, but ultimately there are no casualties. Marks is hailed as a hero in the media, and the film ends with him and Summers beginning their friendship.