Flightplan
Flightplan is an airborne thriller for people who can’t tell the difference between the contents of an air sickness bag and an in-flight meal. Both are guaranteed to leave a nasty taste in your mouth, which is the problem with this confining tale of a distraught mother looking for her missing daughter on a transatlantic flight.
Taking their cue from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes, director Robert Schwentke and writers Peter A. Dowling and Billy Ray pile on the plot contrivances until the film has no choice but to nose dive. For almost an hour the filmmakers wrap us around their collective finger, forcing us to tag along with a desperate, paranoid woman searching for truth and sanity.
Jodie Foster plays recent widow and mom Kyle Pratt, an aeronautic engineer making the flight with her daughter Julie (Marlene Lawston). In the cargo hold is a coffin carrying her husband, who recently died in Germany. The writers immediately employ the unreliable narrator, asking us to question Kyle’s sanity. This moment, a conversation between two characters, does little to establish faith the filmmakers are going to play fair.
For a while everything works in their favor. The plot conveniences are small and insignificant, little movements and actions which don’t mean anything on their own, but when added up begin to take their toll on credibility. When Julie disappears during a nap, Kyle begins a customary sweep of the cabin. As her frustration grows, so does the impatience of the flight crew.
Enter Air Marshal Carson (Peter Sarsgaard), who helps Kyle look for her daughter, and then Captain Rich (Sean Bean), who sees Kyle’s behavior as a potential threat against the airliner. After an extensive search and no daughter, Kyle becomes so paranoid Carson is forced to restrain her. Nothing will keep a mother from her daughter, so after securing release from Carson (pee break), Kyle begins her own search, leading to the cargo bay.
It’s at this point Flightplan hits an air pocket of disbelief. What started off as an interesting chamber mystery evolves into a full-fledged action film with Kyle forced to grow a set of testicles in order to compete with the big boys.
What attracted me to Flightplan was the enigma: how could a little girl seemingly disappear mid-flight without a trace? That’s intriguing. Tossing Foster into an airborne version of Panic Room is not. We’ve seen that film, so watching Foster scurry around tight places trying to save her daughter feels like yesterday’s news. As the plot’s twists and turns become evident, the revelations are almost laughable. If you thought keeping down airline food was tough, try swallowing this crap.
If not for the complete conviction of the cast, the film would crash and burn on take-off. Foster makes us want to believe in her plight, even as the filmmakers stack the deck against her. The writers asks us to accept so much we become weary. Kyle doesn’t offer Foster much range. She’s either a loving and concerned mom or a lumberjack with a chainsaw. There’s no wiggle room between the extremes.
Bean shows command and authority as the captain, while Sarsgaard tips his hat as the Air Marshal who is not nearly as friendly as he pretends. The filmmakers stock the plane with a predictable mix of cliched characters, including the hot button presence of two Arabs who instantly fall under suspect. Even at a brisk 95 minutes Flightplan feels like an endurance test, and once you become privy to the mystery, takes forever to reach its final destination.
Director Schwentke keeps everything up close and personal, helping maintain the claustrophobic undercurrent. Quick cuts and startling musical cues are designed to catch us off guard, the cinematic equivalent of tossing a cat into the frame. Unlike Hitchcock, who knew how to maintain suspense without bitch slapping the audience, Schwentke turns a tidy little thriller into a mundane action film completely devoid of logic.
If you’re a fan of coincidences and plot contrivances, then Flightplan is the perfect getaway. Just don’t eat the stew in the bag.
Hitchcock-Pit Auto Pilot
Foster Needs a New Plan
Flightplan
Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Sean Bean, Kate Beahan, Erika Christensen. Directed by Robert Schwentke. Rated PG-13. 93 Minutes.
Larsen Rating: $3.00
