Touchstone Pictures Starring: Jodie Foster, Peter Saarsgard, Sean Bean
Directed By: Robert Schewntke
Rated: PG-13
Touchstone Pictures
I couldn't help myself. I had to do it. I just had to see what movie had, in its second week, beaten Serenity during the latter film's first weekend in the box office--had, in fact taken the number one slot two weeks running. Heck--as good as Serenity was, I figured Flightplan had to be pretty decent to pull off such a feat.
Nah.
Flightplan is pretty much a typical example of how the American movie public is more likely to go to a movie because of the star of the film rather than the plot of the film. Well, maybe that's not entirely fair. When I saw the previews for this film, I was intrigued. A woman named Kyle Pratt (Foster) and her daughter board an airliner bound from England to New York. Kyle's husband had died recently, and the two of them are heading to Kyle's mother's house to try to get their lives in order. The two of them go to sleep on the plane shortly after takeoff. Kyle awakes a couple of hours late to find her daughter missing. Worse, everyone on the plane is trying to convince her that her daughter was never on board. Kyle frantically tries to prove her own sanity, locate her daughter, and figure out why nobody believes her.
I really can't reveal much more of the story without giving away the twists (such as they are). What I can tell you is that the twists are definitely not worth the price of admission. The plot of the film is a lot more conventional than you might believe at first, while at the same time being quite outlandish. I found myself wishing the film was over about halfway through. I guess the one thing Flightplan has going for it was that it almost fooled me with one of the twists...at least for a moment. But, again, I can't go into it without giving too much away.
There's really not much else to tell. The acting is strictly by the book--we've seen Foster act frantic before, and that's what she does here. We've seen Sean Bean (isn't that fun to say aloud!), who plays the plane's captain, act all hard-assed before which is what he does here. The script is a paint-by-numbers made for TV drama script, and the directing is uninspired at best.
I really think it's time the American movie going public was a bit more discriminating in its film tastes. As long as yawn-fests like Flightplan can continue to rake in $87 million, we're only going to end up with lots more films just like it.
Bottom line: A far-fetched, airborne attempt at a thriller that is coasting on auto-pilot at best.