"Flightplan" shows viewers three simple things. Sean Bean likes playing slightly boring authority figures, Jodie Foster favors confined spaces, and Hollywood has a thing for psychologically damaged mothers who may or may not have imaginary children.
In the movie, Foster ("Silence of the Lambs," "Panic Room" - in which Foster spends much of the movie in a claustrophobic room) plays propulsion engineer Kyle Pratt. Kyle, with her 6-year-old daughter, Julia, is traveling from Berlin to New York on a state-of-the-art 474 aircraft, taking the body of her recently deceased husband home to be buried. While Kyle is sleeping, Julia disappears into the enormous plane, leaving behind her beloved stuffed animal. Fearing the worst, Kyle alerts the plane's captain (Sean Bean of "Lord of the Rings," "The Island" - in which he played a one-dimensional authority figure), his crew and an air marshal who happens to be on board.
However, the entire crew doubts her sanity because of her fragile mental state due to her husband's sudden death, as well as no record of Julia in the plane's manifest. Still, Bean's Captain Rich must follow protocol, and the entire plane is searched to no avail. Only Marshal Gene Carson (Peter Sarsgaard of "The Skeleton Key" and "Garden State") and a handful of random passengers retain a small amount of faith in Kyle.
There are many twists and turns as Kyle has to eventually take matters into her own hands. She uses her knowledge of the plane, having been involved in its creation, to sneak away from the watchful Carson and prove her sanity.
In similar fashion to 2004's "The Forgotten," "Flightplan" uses a tragedy to provoke questions about a mother's sanity as she searches for her lost child. Because the mother recently endured hardship, it is easier to believe she may be hallucinating. "Flightplan" pokes fun at this with the comic relief of an amusing therapist passenger trying to help Kyle come to terms with her husband's death. However, a viewer's natural instinct is to side with the mother and assume that the rest of the characters are hallucinating instead. The viewer wants to believe that mother and child will be reunited in the end.
The problem with "Flightplan" is that it drags the viewer too far along and far too deep into the conflict that a happy ending seems highly unlikely. Kyle, among other things, cuts power to the plane, unnecessarily drops the oxygen masks, punches passengers and ruins much of the plane. When the plane lands, she will be, inevitably, harshly reprimanded. All of the odds seem to be against her.
But, because it is Jodie Foster (and Hollywood), and Jodie Foster is the epitome of the independent woman, the viewer knows that she will prevail. She'll outwit every single person standing in her way and will find her daughter, or at least find out why no one on the plane remembers the girl.
Still, there are many redeeming things about "Flightplan." First, the cast members fit their roles quite specifically. Foster is always excellent, as is Bean. Sarsgaard is consistently surprising critics and is able to convey something deeper to his character then most actors could. Erika Christensen ("The Upside of Anger," "Traffic"), who plays one of the flight attendants, expresses with talent her character's nervousness and exasperation. And finally, newcomer Marlene Lawston is incredible in her portrayal of young Julia. Lawston is at times the typical 6-year-old and at other times wise beyond her years.
However, the absolute most bothersome thing about the movie is the music. It isn't bad per se, it's just used in the wrong places. There is suspenseful music when nothing suspenseful is happening. It creates a false sense of trust in the filmmakers. The music effects are used relatively often, forcing viewers to the edge of their seats, ready for someone to pop out from the shadows. These moments are consistent letdowns.
The film, directed by Robert Schwentke and produced by Brian Grazer ("A Beautiful Mind," "Cinderella Man"), admirably employs humor to its advantage. Violence on aircrafts is a touchy subject in today's culture, but "Flightplan" is able to effectively insert humorous situations to lighten the mood. Keep a look out for the outspoken passenger who shouts the things the whole audience is thinking and the family with those kids everyone comes to hate on those long flights.
Aside from a few missing plot points, 'Flightplan' is simply an enjoyable movie. The humor, the suspense, the action, the acting; it's all there. And because of this, it's set apart from much of what's now playing in theatres.
