Flight Plan

You can't say there's a movie like it really. Had a bit more leg work been done at the start, I think it would have even been better too.

I'm trying to think if this required more suspension of disbelief than a normal movie in the genre, and I think it's probably on par; whereas other flight thriller type stuff depends on the viewer on suspending it in other areas, this is more wild, sure, but also far more interesting.

You ever have that film where you see it in the video store many years ago but have no idea what the film is? Then that very same film shows up in a bargain bin and you pick it up just based on the description on the back? Well, probably not, but that's my background of this film. To my surprise, this film is one great suspenseful ride. I love films that have you guessing right from the very beginning but never to the extent where you are disinterested. What helps with that is the unique premise and great cast. Jodie Foster brings her daughter on a plane from Berlin to New York and falls asleep, but as she wakes up, she discovers that her daughter is missing and may have never even gone on the plane. This film plays with the "unreliable narrator" technique, where you don't know if the story that is unfolding is based on the reality of the passengers or the reality inside Jodie Foster's. The answer may shock you. The best way to find that answer is to watch the film. It's a hidden gem.

Feature films invite us to defy reality, believe a fiction, suspend disbelief. The actor has to make the unreal, real. Jodie Foster has done this in the past with notable success and strings of awards – and often chosen stories that parallel our unwillingness to accept: a rape victim that no-one believed, a paranoid in a locked room that had every reason to be afraid, a scientist that finds proof of aliens. In Flightplan she goes one further – a mother who loses her daughter during a transatlantic flight and whom no-one (including, most of the time, the audience) believes.

Aircraft engineer Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is devastated by the sudden death of her husband. She flies his body back to New York on a state-of-the-art airliner which she designed. Dozing off for a few minutes on the plane, she awakes to find her six year old daughter is missing. Frantic searches ensue as the mounting evidence suggests the daughter was never on board.

Flightplan combines a taut psychological thriller with a deepening mystery and tremendous emotional punch. But does the denouement justify the storyline, the switching positions we are forced to adopt about Kyle's sanity and the existence of her daughter? Or is it simply a story that cashes in on current passenger apprehension over hijacking and Foster's considerable acting talent? Foster is at her best, an outraged, highly intelligent woman with a mother's bottled up and barely contained grief providing simmering emotional force.

It is a remarkable testament to Foster's talent that she can carry such an unlikely story. She imbues the confined space of an aircraft with an energy that doesn't wilt for a moment and ensures our attention never flags. Ably assisted by Sean Bean as the Captain, wanting to give her every benefit of doubt but increasingly forced to accept the evidence of his own eyes, and Air Marshall Peter Sarsgaard who plays an interesting yet inscrutable character, we are mesmerised by Kyle Pratt and our own difficulty in knowing whether to believe her. Whether the story was worthy of such talent is less clear. As the pieces unravel we are presented with a bewildering complexity of background information which, without Foster to carry it or Hitchcockian logic to prove it, we are tempted to dismiss with Flightplan as overambitious. As an exercise in powerful acting that stands up as a Saturday night thriller, Flightplan delivers in Club Class, but as the sum of its parts it is as convoluted and full of wishful thinking as someone trying to stretch out in Economy.

You know how angry, frustrated and anxious you get when an airline loses your luggage? Well, imagine being on a plane with your child when you awaken from a brief nap only to discover that your offspring is missing.

To compound matters further, imagine that no one remembers seeing your child on board and all passenger lists and appropriate documentation lead to a conclusion that your child never set foot in the flying tube 30,000 feet above the Atlantic.

That is the premise behind the new Jodie Foster (Nell) film Flightplan that delivers just enough thrills and spills to squeeze out a three star rating from his critic.

Reprising the claustrophobic atmosphere of her last starring vehicle, Panic Room, Foster stars as Kyle, as recent widower that decides to take her 6-year-old daughter back to America from Berlin to escape the memories surrounding her husbands tragic suicide.

However, after catching a little shuteye at the back of the plane, Kyle awakens to discover that her daughter is missing and that no one recalls ever seeing young Julia on board.

Is she crazy? Is it a conspiracy? Does Julia exist or is this all some kind of a bad dream Twilight Zone episode that will end with Patrick Duffy lathering up in a shower? The game, as we say, is afoot and Kyle, under the very watchful eye of Air Marshall Carson (Peter Sarsgaard) runs up and down the AIR E-474 jumbo jet in a frantic attempt to try and convince others that her daughter is on board and that conspirators are attempting to conceal her whereabouts for reasons unknown.

This is the second thriller set aboard a jetliner in just two months – the other being Red Eye – and Flightplan does just as good a job of instilling fear and tension aboard a vessel where mobility, options and hiding places are limited between the nose and tail of the aircraft. Flightplan does find a way to up the ante by putting us aboard a monstrous flying machine. This AALTO Air E-474 can seat as many as 800 passengers and has two stories, 7 galleys, crew quarters and a cockpit larger than my apartment. This allows the characters therefore to run up and down aisles and makes the disappearance of a small girl more believable due to the many small rooms and electrical hardware gadgetry spread out throughout the quarters.

Flightplan had just enough good points to out number the bad – but not by much. First and foremost at the front of the line was the incredible performance of Foster in the lead role. Channeling emotions evoked if she had lost her own daughter, Foster delivers a knockout performance that was as strong as any female lead in a thriller film since Sigourney Weaver strapped on the weaponry and stood up to the queen alien.

Also notable was the support staff that is each believable in their respective roles. Peter Sarsgaard continues to put in one good performance after another and everyone from Sean Bean (who finally, FINALLY makes it to the end credits of a film without being killed!) to Erika Christensen (Traffic) are provided just enough screen time to advance the story without having anyone go over the top in an attempt to steal the spotlight.

That's the good. The bad includes a bad guy who has what I call the Bond-villain syndrome whereas he feels he has to talk out loud revealing more than anyone in the same situation would for the purposes of ensuring us dumb audiences know the who's how's and what's behind the plot, and an ending that is kinda bumpy landing after such a long flight.

However, director Robert Schwentke does a good job of rising above most of the screenplay's shortfalls and delivers a Hitchcockian caper that is well worth the price of admission even if you will hardly remember most of the plot points by the time you see it on the DVD shelves early next year.

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I have not seen that many Jodie Foster films, but being that she is a fairly well known actress and Flightplan's premise seemed as good as any's I gave it a shot when invited to an opening showing with two friends.

What followed was a mixture between humor, failed tension, and borderline entertainment.

Flightplan derives its plot from a Hitchcock standpoint: A woman (Foster) boards a plane with her daughter, falls asleep and discovers that the little girl is missing. In a frenzy to locate her missing child she frightens both crew and passengers alike in a search that may be only in her mind.

Trouble is Flightplan never builds much excitement, leaving the audience caught between wondering the truth behind the film's mystery and not really caring but hoping things get interesting before everything is over.

Jodie Foster plays a good anxious, worried mother and I had the urge to just reach up, slap her and say "Cut that out!" A well done acting role on her part that sparks empathy and emotional responses from those watching, bravo. Now if only the other characters could have been as successful...

A few seconds into Foster's flight we are introduced to Pigeon Eyes,(Peter Sarsgaard) a shady looking character who explains himself to be an air marshal. He sports a monotonous disposition that could rival Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker impression, except when situation demands a slightly more energetic tone of voice.

The entire films manages to hold itself together without boring the viewers but not exactly showing them the time of their life either. A few predictable plot twists manage to change things up just enough to have it stand out much better than some suspense thrillers (The Interpreter with Nicole Kidman springs to mind.).

Overall, Flightplan stands as an easily forgettable and average entry in the Jodie Foster film history.

5/10