This was a decent suspense thriller. Has a good plot and some action scenes in the end. Sean Bean has a small role in the film but is good as usual. Jodie Foster played the role as the worried mother perfectly.
The basic idea of a girl disappearing on a flight and the question is the mum is being played or going crazy is actually really good, and the first half makes most things right, setting up the mystery and a decent mood. Sadly, the trailer already gave away too much about what happens next and the real solution is given up way too early. What follows is a rather conventional showdown that doesn't live up to the interesting premise. Slightly disappointing, despite of Foster's good performance.
I love this movie! Jodie Foster is one of my favorite actress. I watched it on tv 3 times then I bought it. It has the same plot as Panic Room.. a mother trying to save her daughter. But I still love it.
*claps loudly* LOVED this movie. just finished watching it a few minutes ago. wow. i was never a fan of suspense movies. now, i am. the increasing tension was so intact. i was very drawn to watching the movie intently. eagerly waiting what would happen next. even the ending was just right. now, this is part of my favorite movies. :D
This all seems a mystery. Did her daughter/husband die, are they trying to hijack the plane. A bit of both, the hijacker killed her husband, tried to kill her daughter, tense thriller
This movie's scenario is very similar to The Forgotten which came out the year before so I won't give this any points for originality. Nonetheless, Foster plays very well and it still keeps you wondering whats going on. Suspense.. but not seat clenching suspense either...
The first hour and a bit is a well delivered and intiguing flick. Is she nuts or isn't she? The paranoia and claustrophobia is built up nicely. Great stuff that kept me gripped and interested. Then events are explained and I felt gutted and short changed. It's like they sold the film based on the premise alone (which is a great one) and then realised half way through that they might actually have to think about how to end it. Contrived and ridiculous doesn't begin to explain it and I instantly found myself tuning out. It's a real shame that they didn't expend as much thought on the whole story as opposed to just the premise itself.
Jodie is great, no surprises there at all and she drives this flick along where a lesser actress would have failed. Sean Bean turned up for work and does fine with what he's been given (not a lot). Saarsgard is ok and it was nice to see Erica Christensen turn up looking cute as ever.
Great premise, poor delivery on the outcome. What a shame.
.. hmm my brother just came up behind and asked wtf was the meaning of this film? and i have to admit it was crap..completely crap with a completely stupid story that was completely unbelievable in a believable environment. it was an unreal story in a real film.
This movie let me down in a couple of ways. First, the whole movie really does take place on a plane. So, an hour and a half or more in the same location. Second, most of the "action" in this film is Jodie Foster running up and down the plane, screaming her head off. (Really, it doesn't change much until the very end.) Third, the movie should have ended about two times before it actually did. They were really beating a dead horse.
Jodie Foster plays a airline specialist who loses her daughter on a super plane while highjackers threaten to destroy it. If it weren't for the contrived plot and the ridiculous way the obvious inside job of making the kid vanish is played, the cat and mouse chase might have been fun. As is, it just leaves the audience uneasy. Do not show it as an in flight film!
Although sitting there watching I thought it seemed quite interesting. Until Sean Beans character said there was no record of Jodie Fosters daughter ever being on board the plane? It felt like he had just revealed the whole plot. I felt abit, let down, and started to think - What a crap film.
But then thankgod there was a bit of a twist!
Peter Sarsgaard (Air Marshal Gene) seemed alittle shifty right from the beginning.
Sean Bean was gorgeous throughout.
This is an OK film.
The only thing I knew about this film before watching it was that it was about a mother whose little girl vanishes on a plane, so I only expected a formulaic Hollywood actioner and had no high hopes about it. I was very susprised to discover that the director, Robert Schwentke, is not one of those anonymous movie professionals who are renowned for their "efficacy" and ability to churn out blockbusters, but that he actually has a true sense of direcing as a language, and may be considered a director with a distinct "voice" (I had the same impression this year watching Jonathan Glazer's "Birth".)
Unfortunately, as far as the plot is concerned, the film is indeed a rather standard Hollywood action film, and though it makes you think for a while it is going into Shyamalan territory and might be a kind of American variation on "Two Sisters", this is not its true destination. Also, grief is not the real center of the movie (unlike "Birth", for instance), but only background to provide character motivation, just like motherly love ("Flightplan" is as much about the latter as, say, "Aliens".)
The acting is top-notch, and Sean Bean in particular was great as the captain. Of course, as in all such movies, there are quite a few plot holes and the explanation is not altogether satisfactory. But I did spend an agreeable 90 minutes and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Schwentke's next film, all the more so as it is about time travel and has a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin.
The first time I watched this it seemed really great but the second time it was not so. Even though the story was interesting enough and Jodie Foster was believeable as Kyle Pratt this is not the best moive.
The 'plot' is complete and utter bobbins, but Flightplan remains relatively exciting stuff and keeps the interest despite the ridiculous twists and over-reliance on chance and co-incidence. This is mostly thanks to skilful direction, a superb, Panic Roomesque performance from Jodie Foster and the involvement of the ever wonderful/fuckable Peter Sarsgaard. Just don't try to think about all the contrivances or you'll get annoyed (and why do we have to have yet *another* 'vengeance is good' ending).
Flightplan is a pure thriller, delivering only thrills, chills and a little mystery to keep our attention. As such, your liking for the film may come down to how interesting you find the modest twists and turns in the story. Savvy thriller viewers should have no trouble staying ahead of the curve here, as the film falls into predictable patterns, with obvious red herrings that do little to throw us off as the teaser film reaches an increasingly implausible revelation and preposterous conclusion.
Jodie Foster plays Kyle Pratt, a plane designer that has just suffered the tragic loss of her husband and is traveling from Germany back to the US for his burial with their six-year-old daughter Julia in tow. It just so happens, Kyle is flying back on a plane she helped design, a massive commercial jet that has all of the latest amenities one could ever want in a plane. Apparently, it is so large that a child can get lost in it, and that's just what happens when Kyle awakens from a three hour nap and finds Julia nowhere to be found. She begs and pleads for the captain and crew to assist her, but as they dig deeper into the matter, they become more and more certain that Kyle may never have come aboard with her daughter and needs psychiatric treatment. Kyle doesn't give up, leading to escalating tensions among the crew and passengers.
Foster's tense performance, reminiscent of the successful turn she nailed in Panic Room, keeps the attention level high most of the way, although perhaps she is too smart for her role here. True, she is playing an aviation engineer, which are usually not dummies, but this angle seems far more of a contrivance than a reality, as she does some very foolish things throughout, especially as key pieces to the puzzle that seem obvious to us are repeatedly overlooked for purposes of dramatic convenience.
Not that anyone could ever really buy what screenwriters Peter Dowling and Billy Ray offer up as the reason behind the young girl's supposed disappearance, as there are so many holes in the plot that it is a wonder the plane didn't depressurize. As all of the cards are revealed, all hopes of retaining the credibility of the very effective build-up are dashed, and without the necessary suspension of disbelief required, this vehicle crashes and burns before finally fading to black with an anti-climactic epilogue.
Flightplan offers much promise from Foster's involvement and a stylish look, but just becomes too turbulent to make the transition from mystery to thriller in seamless fashion. Perhaps I shouldn't use so many air travel clichés in my review, but I feel it's only appropriate for me to do so in a film that is nothing but clichés from beginning to end. For the most casual of viewers, there might be enough tension in the first half of the movie to justify a rental, but frequent flyers need not cash in their miles for what ends up being such pedestrian fare.
For some reasons, I was just hypnotized by the story. Jodie Foster delivers an amazing perfomance, as the viewer questions her credibility about her child. A very suspensfull film that will keep you at the edge of your seat, for sure.
MCT:November 17, 2008
MCT:November 12, 2008
MCT:November 5, 2008
MCT:October 4, 2008
MCT:September 17, 2008
MCT:August 18, 2008
MCT:July 23, 2008
