Flightplan (2005)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Robert Schwentke

Writers (WGA):

Peter A. Dowling (written by) and
Billy Ray (written by)

Release Date:

23 September 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

If Someone Took Everything You Live For... How Far Would You Go To Get It Back?

Plot:

A claustrophobic, Hitchcockian thriller. A bereaved woman and her daughter are flying home from Berlin to America. At 30,000 feet the child vanishes and nobody admits she was ever on that plane.

Plot Keywords:

Casket | Apartment | Air Marshal | Home | Coffin

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Jodie Foster	...	Kyle Pratt
Peter Sarsgaard	...	Carson
Sean Bean	...	Captain Rich
Kate Beahan	...	Stephanie
Michael Irby	...	Obaid
Assaf Cohen	...	Ahmed
Erika Christensen	...	Fiona
Shane Edelman	...	Mr. Loud
Mary Gallagher	...	Mrs. Loud
Haley Ramm	...	Brittany Loud
Forrest Landis	...	Rhett Loud
Jana Kolesarova	...	Claudia
Brent Sexton	...	Elias
Marlene Lawston	...	Julia
Judith Scott	...	Estella

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence and some intense plot material.

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | German | Arabic | Italian | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Australia:M | Singapore:PG | UK:12A | Ireland:12A | Taiwan:PG-12 | Finland:K-11 | Indonesia:Dewasa | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:12 | Germany:12 (f) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Brazil:14 | Sweden:11 | Czech Republic:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Iceland:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #41961) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | South Korea:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

The cartoon that is played on the monitor when Kyle wakes up is "Kenny the Shark" (2003).

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: At one point Kyle is in the galley with most of the plane's crew (at least all the ones we've been introduced to) and its captain. The camera takes a rotating view of Kyle and at the end of its rotation on the left-hand side, the smallest bit of "untreated" green screen is visible.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mortuary Director: [in German, subtitled] Would you like a moment of privacy before the casket is sealed?
Kyle: [hesitantly] Okay.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in In-Flight Movie: The Making of 'Flightplan' (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

Silent Poet

Carefully-plotted thriller is gripping and intriguing without being truly suspenseful...

Jodie Foster is terrific as usual playing recently-widowed aircraft engineer and mother of a solemn little girl who is faced with terror and dread while on a flight from Germany to New York: her daughter vanishes and no one on-board will admit to ever having seen her. Unintentionally or not, the film takes its cue from the cult classic "Bunny Lake is Missing", but then goes its own way for a compelling second-half. The script is carefully plotted, hedging no bets and leaving no stone unturned, and that may be its only fault: the plot is so smoothly planned and drawn out for us that it loses some intensity. Ironically, the opening (with Foster making burial arrangements in regards to her husband, and later feeling watched from her apartment window) are spookily dream-like, but the director becomes much more sober once the action moves to the plane, and yet his film could really use more of that surreal, what's-going-on ambiance he initially captured so succinctly. Still, a first-rate picture with excellent performances by everyone, down to the last two-line player. *** from ****