If Someone Took Everything You Live For... How Far Would You Go To Get It Back?
Flightplan is the sort of movie you'd only agree to write after a few beers. I can
imagine the two writers sitting in a bar bouncing ever more implausible scenarios at each other until one
says: "A kid disappears from a plane at 36,000 feet". "Yeah," says the other "We can do
that".
Given the ludicrous nature of the concept Dowling and Ray's script does an impressive job.
The story begins in Germany soon after the husband of Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is killed in a fall.
Kyle and her six year old daughter Julia (Marlene Lawston) leave Germany to fly to
America. Or do they?
Three hours into the flight Kyle wakes up to find that Julia is missing. So is
Julia's luggage, her boarding pass and every trace of her. None of the passengers or crew remember
her boarding. It's a case of "The young lady vanishes".
Kyle is, of course, determined to find her daughter. But was she ever on board? Is Kyle suffering
from delusional grief? Does Julia even exist?
The script has fun ringing the changes on these possibilities. The atmosphere of paranoia
and suspicion is enhanced nicely by Schwentke's tense direction. Flightplan makes good use of its
post-911 credentials.
In terms of acting this is Jodie Foster's film and probably wouldn't have worked without
her. She does a great job as the distraught and
possibly deranged mother who will stop at nothing to save the daughter she believes has
vanished. Yes, her
performance is melodramatic and has only one gear - but that suits the role.
Support is competent with Peter Sarsgaard smugly irritating as the air marshall and Sean Bean well cast as the
pilot.
Ultimately, of course, once the script has explored all the limited possibilities of the
scenario it has to make a decision as to which way to go.
When the reveal came it was both disappointing and obvious. However despite this
the last act still manages to maintain interest.
Which is good because otherwise you'd notice the glaring plot holes. The story is frankly
nonsense, however it's told very well. So well that you can - almost - ignore the
implausibility of the whole thing.
So the end of the film is nowhere near as
good as the beginning - I wondered if that's connected with having two writers? - but is
still fun in a different way.
Flightplan is a movie that shouldn't have worked but did. Just try not to listen to the
music near the end.
