In "Flightplan," a distraught woman named Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) has a problem. She has either lost her daughter, Julia (Marlene Lawston) or she has lost her mind while on board an airliner. Because the Pratt character is intelligent and seemingly rational, we'd like to believe her. Yet, because crew members and passengers don't recall the daughter and view her with varying degrees of doubt, we aren't so sure.
The movie tries to be something of a thriller. There is a pervasive ominous feeling. The lighting seems to have a muted brightness. There are creepy wind effects to keep you on edge. And the accompanying score features an ostensible tremolo of grating bass notes on the piano. If claustrophobia is your thing, you'll be happy to know that the major part of the movie takes place within a jet. It'll be good fun in tight spaces.
Welcome to the Twilight Zone. Pratt looks perpetually nervous as if she knows that something strange will happen. Foster is a very good actress. Here, she embodies the frightened and overprotective mother with tremendous conviction. Yet, as we will later see, she also possesses courage and resourcefulness. This is a strong woman.
A character that may help and hinder her include the jet's pilot (Sean Bean). Bean finally gets to play a different kind of role. Instead of being the smug corporate power-monger, now he's the pilot who is at first sympathetic to her cause. Every airline should have a pilot like him. Another prominent character is the air marshal (Peter Sarsgaard) who has to try to keep Pratt calm as she begins to go through what might be described as mood swings. She's delusional, calm, and then impetuous. Somebody give her an anxiety pill! It's a darn good thing that the stewardesses are very well-trained in case of various emergencies. Their training will be put to the test as Pratt finds ways to inadvertently disrupt the plane ride as she is convinced that her daughter is in danger.
However, how many hiding places can there be? Well, Pratt knows that there are several galleys and cargo holds that a little girl can find her way into. How does she know? Because, Pratt was involved in the design of the plane. And, this knowledge comes in really handy when we approach the final act of the film. What happens, I will leave you to see for yourself. But, the film does a good job of keeping you in your seat as nothing is what it seems. One baffling situation after another pops up, and inquiring minds want to know what's going on.
The film veers to the left and right and then left again. It seems to lose track about midway through the film as we begin to grow tired of her manic paranoia and as the feeling of the film seems to venture into familiar territory. But, it throws in another twist to give this slowing film a needed boost. As you watch the film unfold, you intently follow her through every step, trying to guess, like she is, what's going on. Understandably, with all of its twists and turns, you will reflect upon this film and find the development of the story kind of preposterous. But, "Flightplan" holds our attention during the flight. The fun is in getting there.
By: Homer Yen
Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup
Rating: 4
Even if it is an energetic mix of RUN LOLA RUN and RED EYE, FLIGHTPLAN is likely to leave viewers scratching their heads, thinking that the movie could and should have been so much better. The problem with the production has nothing to do with the acting of the lead. Jodie Foster, repeating her tough but vulnerable mom role from PANIC ROOM, a much better movie, does an amazing job again.
The frustrations with the film revolve around its basic premise. Foster's Kyle Pratt is a grieving widow who may be delusional, or so we are told, when she claims to have lost her daughter during a long flight over the Atlantic. The script, by Peter A. Dowling and Billy Ray, spends the entire first half of the story trying without any luck whatsoever to convince us that Pratt's daughter may have never been on the plane in the first place. Even if director Robert Schwentke (TATTOO) hadn't felt the need to have various key people provide knowing looks bordering on winks to each other, the script never puts any real doubt in our mind about the girl's existence. FLIGHTPLAN never attains liftoff since its basic premise is never made credible, even for a minute.
The only open question as the last act begins is the explanation that film will provide for what is going on. As much as we admire Foster's sterling acting, it can never quite make up for the lack of a credible story. When the inevitable big twist came, it wasn't the one guessed, but I wasn't impressed. Frankly I didn't care much, since there are only two believable characters, Pratt and an airline pilot played with convincing passion and toughness by Sean Bean. Particularly bad is Peter Sarsgaard, who was so sharp in SHATTERED GLASS, but who was last seen slumming it in THE SKELETON KEY. Here he appears sleepy most of the time.
The movie is much sleeker and more expensive looking than RED EYE. But the latter film was a lot more fun and believable too. It also didn't take itself quite so seriously. FLIGHTPLAN is worth seeing only for diehard Foster fans.
FLIGHTPLAN runs 1:35. It is rated PG-13 for "violence and some intense plot material" and would be acceptable for kids around 11 and up.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, September 23, 2005. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
By : Steve Rhodes (http://www.internetreviews.com/)
