Customer Reviews

Flightplan (Widescreen Edition)

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(80)
3 star:		(46)
2 star:		(35)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

Kyle Pratt and her daughter Julia board a plane in Germany to bring the body of their beloved husband/father to his final resting place in the US. After a short nap, Kyle wakes only to discover her daughter is missing from her seat. After searching on her own, she seeks help from the crew, but none of the passengers remember seeing Julia. After further inquiries, it is disclosed that Julia wasn't even listed as traveling on the flight. Everyone writes Kyle off as being in mourning, and even unstable. For just a moment Kyle starts to believe she may be losing it, but then stands firm. Julia is her daughter, and she would not make this kind of mistake regarding something so important. As Kyle begins her own search, it shocks everyone to find out that she is in fact one of the propulsion engineers of this plane and will be searching every inch to locate her daughter.

At first I couldn't believe that none of the passengers would admit to seeing Julia, but then as they are interviewed, it is amazing how many were too busy with families, business, etc. to really notice or pay attention. I expect it is pretty much how we all are. As Kyle's sanity is brought into question, we start to wonder who is right. Did we really see Julia? Jodie Foster is so strong in this movie. I like that she is proactive instead of reactive.

Kyle (Jodie Foster), a former engineer for a large aerospace firm in Berlin, packs up her home and takes her daughter, Julia (Marlene Lawston) and her husband's dead body to the airport; they are flying back to New York, to start over. The flight happens to be on a new double decker jumbo jet (think the new Airbus jet) that she helped design. Kyle and her daughter get settled and a couple of hours into the flight, Kyle wakes up to find Julia missing. Kyle becomes frantic and insists that the plane be searched from head to toe. Since Kyle and her daughter were the first people on the plane, no one saw Julia. The captain (Sean Bean) listens to the accounts of his flight attendants, including Stephanie (Kate Beahan) and Fiona (Erika Christensen), who confirm that Julia was never on the manifest or seen, before finally agreeing to a search lead by the Air Marshall, Carson (Peter Saarsgard). Things don't go well.

"Flightplan", Jodie Foster's newest film, is a promising, taut thriller that ends with a whimper. Directed by Robert Schwentke, the film works well for a long time and then falls victim to many of the problems that plague thrillers.

Beginning promisingly, we meet the grieving Kyle (Foster) who is mourning her husband's death. She has conversations with her dead husband, in the empty Berlin subway, or the empty snow swept streets. Her loss is significant and it isn't any easier that it happened in a foreign country, that she has a young daughter, or that there seems to be some question as to whether her husband slipped off the snowy roof or committed suicide. The film quickly establishes that Kyle and her husband have been in Berlin for a long time; six-year old Julia doesn't even know what type of food they have in America, so the trip home is a bit disorienting.

Both of these factors; her grief and the disorienting trip home, help establish Kyle's vulnerability. At one point, a therapist (Greta Scacchi) on board is asked to speak to Kyle and she is easily swayed by the therapist's suggestions. All the people who are constantly telling her that Julia was never on the plane, or worse, begins to have an effect on her and she begins to question the fact herself. This is all highly effective and works extremely well.

The plane itself is a unique and interesting setting for a thriller. Two stories, with the capability of carrying almost five hundred people at 30,000, the plane is immense, with many hiding places. Of course, it helps that Kyle is an engineer who worked on part of the plane. She knows the ins and outs, the compartments, how to get into the holds, and more. This works both for and against her. She can tell when the flight crew isn't being thorough, but she also becomes more of a threat to the safety of the plane. Which is why Carson is asked to detain her when no one can find her daughter and she becomes a bit violent.

The set and the camera work add to the feeling of claustrophobia throughout. Not only do we get a sense of Kyle's frustration, in this relatively tiny, enclosed space, but these two elements help to give us the feeling these same passengers are experiencing. Yes, the plane is huge, the largest ever built, but it is still basically a tin can holding 450 people.

When Kyle realizes that the search is not going to continue, she takes matters into her own hands. Foster's portrayal of this desperate woman is very good. Throughout, Kyle remains passionate and smart, two qualities not often found in a female protagonist. If a heroine is smart, she is usually cold and calculating, because she has to figure things out. Naturally, as a mother, Kyle is distraught over the disappearance of her daughter. Even more distraught now that she is alone. The blend of emotions seems natural and all credit for this should go to Foster.

Many people may watch the trailers for "Flight Plan" and say something like "Oh, so she made "Panic Flight"". Well, yes and no. Certainly, some comparisons can be drawn between the two, they are both thrillers, but "Flight Plan" is a more psychological thriller were "Panic Room" is a more action packed thriller. There is a large difference in tone and theme. For much of "Flightplan", Foster's Kyle doesn't know who, or even, if she is trying to identify a villain.

During the first part of "Flight", the director and writers throw a lot of red herrings at us. Is the Captain (Bean) involved? How about the flight attendants Stephanie and Fiona (Beahan and Christensen)? Fiona is a new flight attendant, maybe she is behind the plan? What about those two men who are sitting at the front of the cabin and appear to be Middle Eastern? What about Kyle herself? Is she crazy? Does she imagine that her daughter is with her?

Things start to unravel a bit when Kyle finally realizes she is sure that Julia was on the plane. This moment is not as conclusive as necessary to suddenly make the audience go `aha' and start rooting for Kyle. Until, and even after, this point, doubt is successfully cast on whether Kyle's daughter is a figment of her imagination or real.

When the final reveal is made it seems a bit lacking. For all of the effort made to make everyone seem to be the villain, the actual identity of the villain is disappointing and there doesn't seem to be enough motivation for their actions. Why does this person want all of this to happen? It doesn't seem to have enough gravitas to make the film that memorable.

The final few scenes are so overly dramatic that they seem to be from a different movie all together, or perhaps a television soap opera. I half imagined Susan Lucci's Erica Kane character in place of Foster's Kyle as she walks through... I will not reveal that much. Let's just say that the final few scenes are slow, poorly written and anticlimactic. In a thriller, you want the audience huffing and puffing, on the edge of their seat until the very final frame of film. Anytime wasted should not be at the end. This is your last chance to leave an impression with the audience. If the ending is slow, the audience may feel the same way.

"Flightplan" is a suspenseful, well-made film for the most part. But the film also suffers from the same problems a lot of thrillers have. Because Foster makes so few films, handpicking every project, you would expect that she would choose a thriller that was so tightly plotted a drop of water couldn't get through. In fact, the film has a number of holes in the plot, some large enough for the large jumbo jet to fly through on its way to New York via Berlin.

Catch a bargain matinee or rent the DVD.

I understand that big stars pretty much pick and choose films to get involved with. I therefore assume that Ms Foster thought this was a good idea. It wasn't.
It doesn't take long to figure out who is the real bad guy, and once that is out of the way there is little else going for the film. I could only tolerate hearing "you're not listening to me" in so many variations. Even Jodie Foster can keep that interesting for so long. The film hints at one of the attendants having sympathies for the distraught mom, and I kept waiting for the film to spring a surprise related to that. Nope. Then I thought they might be implying that the captain understood and might somehow help, Nope again.

Bottom line: Very talented actor, but awful movie.

Kyle Pratt, a jet propulsion engineer who has worked on the Aalto 474 -- the world's largest jet airliner, reels emotionally from the loss of her husband at the beginning of the movie. David Pratt was an apparent suicide, though Kyle doesn't know why her husband would jump from the top of a building. She and her six-year-old daughter, Julie, decide to fly the body back to the United States for burial. On medication, truly not grounded while aboard the huge 474 jetliner, Kyle wakes to find Julie missing. None of the crew or other passengers admit to having seen her. Almost overwhelmed by the turn of events, Kyle has to face the fact that someone has stolen her daughter on the jetliner, or that her daughter died with her husband and she losing her mind.

FLIGHTPLAN stars Jodie Foster (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, PANIC ROOM, ANNA AND THE KING, CONTACT) in one of her most compelling roles. Peter Sarsgaard (JARHEAD, SKELETON KEY) stars as the air marshal on the jet who alternately helps and hinders Kyle Pratt's efforts to find her child. Directed by Robert Schewentke, who has done primarily German films but is now moving into the American market, the film has definite Hitchcockian tones.

FLIGHTPLAN is what the director frequently calls a "slow boil" in the bonus materials on the DVD. The quiet, heavy weight of the beginning as the viewer tries to sort out everything that is going on, dreading the certain knowledge that someone is dead sucks the audience into the story and Kyle Pratt's plight. The sets were also intricately plotted out, including the color (which affects both the mood and the tension the story ratchets up), and the 474 comes across as its own world. The subtle twists and turns of the plot are suggested rather than telegraphed, so the viewer actually has thought about a possibility before the movie deals with it. This is one of the best suspense movies with twists to come along in a long time.

Unfortunately, though the pacing works for the movie, it also sometimes works against it. Although FLIGHTPLAN works in familiar terrain, the terrain is TOO familiar at times. Veteran suspense movie watchers will have too much time on their hands to think about what is going on and, perhaps, grow a little impatient.

FLIGHTPLAN is a great movie for an easy night of film watching. There's no blood, no gratuitous violence, no nudity. It performs exactly as it's supposed to, piques the watcher's interest, levels them off with paranoia, and brings them crashing to the landing field.

..but I just can't. I'm a Jodie Foster fan for the most part (did anyone besides me notice her frightening resemblance to Michael Jackson in this film?) However, her success with "Panic Room," which was a better film all around, seems to have spawned this thriller. Sadly, this one is full of way too many plot holes to take it seriously. Foster is a strong actress as always, but her abilities can't keep this flight up in the air. It's contrived, unbelievable and, though it has a nice set up, it's ultimately a huge let down.

Director: Robert Schwentke
Cast: Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Sean Bean, Kate Beahan, Michael Irby, Assaf Cohen, Erika Christensen, Marlene Lawston.
Running Time: 98 minutes
Rated PG-13 for violence and some intense plot material.

After the mysterious death of her husband, Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) and her daughter Julia (Marlene Lawston) are looking forward to relocating from Germany to New York City. After boarding an airplane she helped design, Kyle settles down for a nap, only to awaken and find that Julia is missing. Frenzied, Kyle demands the plane be searched, which irritates the flight attendants, and raises the suspicions of one of the passengers (Peter Sarsgaard). When each search comes up empty, fellow passengers start becoming agitated, and the captain of the plane (Sean Bean) wary of her motives, Kyle is forced to confront her own sanity and accept that Julia might not have existed at all. It's not any fault of "Flightplan" that it has to come out a month after Wes Craven's rollicking "Red Eye." After gorging on Craven's outrageous airplane thriller like it was a Halloween night candy bonanza, "Flightplan" dares to mount a similar nightmare-in-the-sky experience, this time crusted with a little more refinement and an A-list acting pedigree.

Jodie Foster returns to a big screen starring role after her 2002 hit, "Panic Room." At first glance, the two films are quite similar, requiring the veteran actress to play an extremely physical part, maintaining intensity like a pro while crawling around tight spaces and confronting everyone in sight. "Flightplan" is a good example of Foster's uncanny ability to make almost any material work, and her performance here is a major reason why "Flightplan" has credible moments of any entertainment value. Directed by German-born Robert Schwentke, "Flightplan" is a picture that is entirely about the art of persuasion. To delve into the plot too far would give away the surprises that Schwentke and his screenwriters have in store for the audience, much like "Red Eye." However, Schwentke takes the opposite route of Craven, and begins to fancy himself a Hitchcockian type of director, taking the film very seriously, even when the screenplay begins to veer off into the abyss of ridiculousness. Schwentke knows how to assemble a good suspense sequence, and "Flightplan" sets itself apart by freely exploring the post 9/11 airline world with its collection of undercover air marshals and suspicious Arab passengers.

When truths are finally revealed in the second half, "Flightplan" slips into action mode, and things become increasingly hard to swallow. Schwentke doesn't seem prepared to handle the more outlandish moments of the extended climax, but the scenes work regardless since the film is so blessed with acting talent. By this time in the film, the audience is ready for a little brutality, and Schwentke is willing to give it to them, just not with the same quality of execution found in the first half. The real problem with Flightplan is that the more you think back, the more you become frustrated with how inconceivable the whole charade was; the more you become irritated with how often you were lead to wonder about something eventually irrelevant. There are some films that don't give you all the answers and pull you along on a suspenseful ride, and leave you feeling fulfilled when you finally figure everything out, and everything fits together. "Flightplan" concludes, you know the culprit, and then you think back, and nothing fits together.

"Flight Plan" takes a Hitchcockian premise and runs with it (in fact it borrows its basic conceits from "The Lady Vanishes"). Kyle (Jodie Foster)a recently widowed plane engineer is returning to the United States with her daughter and her husband's body. She's distracted, distraught, and having a difficult time coping with the loss of her husband taking multiple medications for anxiety. Midflight after she takes a nap she discovers her daughter missing. The Captain (Sean Bean) and Air Marshal (Peter Skarrsgard) begin to doubt her sanity as more and more information about her situation becomes available.

Imaginatively directed by Robert Schwentke with a number of strong performances, the film falls apart during the third act of the film and stretches believability a bit. Nevertheless, it's an entertaining thrill ride. Fans of Foster who enjoyed "Panic Room" will enjoy this tense thriller. Originally the thriller was written with a male airport security officer and his son, the script was retooled by writer Billy Ray("Suspect Zero")from an original script by first time writer Peter Dowling.

The extras are pretty good in this set including a thoughtful solo commentary track by Robert Schwentke where he discusses everything from unsuccessful previews, retooling sections that weren't clear after the preview and even rethinking entire sequences in the film. It's an honest appraisal of his film and the shortcomings he felt it had as well as the improvements. There's a great featurette on the visual effects of the film and I was quite surprised to see that they used a large scale model for the visual effects involving the plane vs. CGI (there is CGI in the film as well). It's a cool featurette. We also get a "making of" featurette where we hear from everyone including the original writer about the changes to the script, issues they had during shooting, etc. The featurettes are a valuable glimpse into how making a movie is very much a collabortive artform but also how the right director can help give a film its much needed focus.

"Flightplan" is a fun thrill ride even if parts of the film are a bit implausible. Like Hitchcock's classic thrillers you have to suspend your disbelief at times but it's ultimately and enjoyable trip. I'd give it 3 1/2 stars but it would have earned 4 if not for the way the third act falls apart.

I wanted to give this movie 4 stars. It WAS GOOD. I was into the movie the whole time. Jodie Foster is a reliable STAR who almost always chooses great movies... in fact... I actually can't think of a movie that she's been in that was 'BAD'. They've all been good and this was no exception.

But! As the title of my review suggests!! One THING!! Just one thing ruined it for me. It was a 4 star movie UNTIL...

The movie centers around a woman who is returning to the United States with her dead husband and her daughter aboard a very large plane that she has inside information about because she designs planes. When her daughter turns up missing, the suspense is on... very early I might add... which makes for a very fun viewing experience.

Is she crazy? Did her daughter die along with her husband and she's imagining her? Has her daughter been abducted by a group of arabs on the plane?

It is a whirlwind movie but I have to tread a very thin line with my review so as not to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but when the truth begins to unfold... when it all comes to a head and we realize what is going on... it is very VERY VERY THIN!

I don't want to ruin it for people, but the way it unfolded was such a disappointment to me, it took the fun right out of it. No, not the cliche' ending... but the cliche' explanation for EVERYTHING!! When the plot is revealed... and you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it, you too will say... that was really weak and you'll literally want to slap the PILOT for being so stupid. You mean to tell me that he fell for that ridiculous story?? That was the brilliant plan?

Although Jodie Foster is fantastic. When isn't she? She saves the movie. Although... It was a small 4 minute scene about 1:05:00 into the movie that took me right off of that plane and wished that the writers had spent another week and thought a little more about the way the movie unfolded before they went ahead with production.

"Flightplan" is a new thriller starring Jodie Foster. Foster plays Kyle Pratt, a grieving widow who has a six-year old daughter. They are taking her husband's body back to America on a new airplane that Kyle helped design. Early on she takes a nap, and awakes to find her daughter missing. The plane is searched; no one remembers seeing the child, the flight crew doubts Kyle's sanity, and there may be terrorists aboard.

The story was so intense and believable that I was on the edge of my seat for the first three-quarters of the film; the pace slows considerably after we learn the secret, but it is still a riveting movie. Foster is well-cast as the hysterical but strong mother and she gives a memorable performance. Sean Bean is very good as the pilot who wants to be sympathetic, but suspects Kyle is delusional. Peter Sarsgaard is convincing as the air marshal who handles the case.

This is an exciting thriller; despite taking place mostly on board a plane, it never gets boring. I heartily recommend it.

Kona

We all know Jodi Foster can do the "protective mother" shtick, ever since "Panic Room." I thought Panic Room was brilliant, so I was looking forward to essentially the same premise on a plane.

In Flightplan, Foster plays Kyle, an airplane engineer who has recently lost her husband. She's traveling back from Germany to the States with her daughter, Julia (played with impossible cuteness by Marlene Lawston). Julia is so traumatized by her father's death (he "tripped off a building," ya see), that she is terrified of even going outside, much less on a plane.

The panic rises as Kyle awakens to discover her daughter is nowhere to be found. There's no record of the child and then we realize that nobody was really paying attention to her--or really anyone--on the plane.

The subtle message throughout Flightplan is that despite our heightened awareness of terrorist, we rarely pay attention to each other. It's easy to focus on the dark-skinned man with the beard, but apparently much harder to keep track of a blonde mother and her daughter. Why? Because we don't SEE her anymore, even though she's right in front of us.

There is undoubtedly some nefarious plans going on, but those plans are bolstered by malaise from the stewardess, the crew, and a streak of self-doubt from Kyle herself. Is she having a nervous breakdown?

Peter Sarsgaard plays Carson, the sky marshal. Sarsgaard channels John Malkovich with startlingly intensity (in fact, the two played father/son in "The Man in the Iron Mask"). Kate Beahan is a particularly annoying stewardess who, judging from her dark eye makeup, is clearly up to no good. In the background, Sean Bean lends gravitas to the Captain. You'd think airplane captains were born of royalty the way he portrays Captain Rich.

The plane is as much an actor as any human, rumbling and shaking at the appropriate moments. It's two levels (I didn't even know there was such a thing), and awfully roomy. That only makes sense, but it detracts from some of the claustrophobia if you've never been on a plane of that size before. On the other hand, I watched this movie while I was on a cruise ship, so I could understand the terror of losing someone in a confined space.

Throughout the film are other asides: comments on the fickle nature of passengers, on psychiatry, about white raged, and of course, about airlines. These interesting character studies turn the movie into more than just a mere thriller. If Flightplan has a villain, it's the audience, and it makes it clear that a little more compassion and attention to our fellow passengers might do everyone some good.