Flight Plan (Download, Review)

Jodie Foster acts again in confined spaces after her acclaimed last movie, Panic Room. But the claustrophobia generated here is at 40,00 feet from sea level, when a bereaved widow, Kyle Pratt, played by Foster, wakes up after a nap to find that her six-year-old daughter Julia(Marlene Lawston) has disappeared. What’s worse, no one seems to have seen her daughter on board, nor is there any other evidence to support her presence. This results in mounting disbelief amongst the crew and the passengers and the flight from Berlin to New York becomes the venue for the taut drama that plays out, to eventually somewhat fizzle towards the end.

Director Robert Scewentke exploits the plot that takes Foster from a calm and concerned mother to a totally out of control banshee, who is apparently further imbalanced by the recent loss of her husband. The interplay between the characters when the widow goes ballistic is handled with finesse. She is finally the only one convinced of her own sanity and must do whatever she can to search for her child. She is faced with the scariest of circumstances imaginable, when no one believes her at a time of high crisis, and she begins to have tinges of self-doubt.

Foster is her usual powerful self. With a make-up free face that makes her more credible, she is the one character whose assessment in your eyes shifts constantly, from a caring if over-protective mother to an over-aggressive, deranged, and seemingly delusional widow. As the rest of the crew pitches in the search, you might even be tempted to ask her to calm down, much like Captain Rich(Sean Bean) or Air Marshal Gene Carson( Peter Sarsgaard), both of whom do justice to their respective parts.

The movie builds to a fever pitch, and you are very intrigued by the whole affair. No one seems to have the correct hold on things, not even Kyle, and you really do not know who to believe. Post 9-11 realities of airplane security are aired when an Arab is suspected of a hand in the child’s disappearance. When even her strongest supporter, the Air Marshal, gives up after an extensive search and has to handcuff her to ensure the safety of the other passengers, Kyle is very much on her own.

But then you find that she was one of the jet propulsion engineers who had helped design the aircraft and is familiar with every nook and cranny. Despite Foster’s capable, intelligent mien, this is perhaps too neat. From here, the movie takes a downward spiral, as you are shown all the crevices in the airplane during Kyle’s relentless search, and the surprise is spoilt much before the climax. All the explanations when they come in are a bit flimsy, and perhaps it is a case of one twist too many. From an initially promising mystery, the story falls flat within the realms of the familiar.

Flight Plan derives much of its impact from its cast and the fact that everything is real-time, and the script works really well in the first hour. It could have gone one better for the ending though, and is therefore good only for a casual weekend thriller, to take off the effects of a long week. It keeps you guessing most of the way, which is surely more than what can be said of a whole lot of formula-based thrillers today.

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