FLIGHTPLAN

BVI

RELEASED 25 November 2005

Leaving Germany on the huge new E474 airplane with her emotionally fragile six-year old daughter and her dead husband in the hold, Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is fighting hard to keep it all together. Waking three hours after take-off to find her daughter missing, the resulting search yields no results. It soon becomes clear that our panicked mom may be losing her mind. 

Building the tension fantastically for the first half of the movie, proceedings become predictable once we know where the story is going. It’s a shame that this is a Hollywood movie, because there’s never any doubt of a happy ending. European sensibilities tend to favour a darker tone. Red herrings abound, the claustrophobic feel of being trapped in a ‘flying tube’ is well-captured, and Foster is excellent as always. Sean Bean plays the Captain with consummate authority, and looks good in a pilots’ uniform, ladies! The inclusion of post 9/11 paranoia is handled intelligently within the movie, but becomes comical at the end. ‘Flightplan’ is a moderately-diverting flight of fancy.

THREE OUT OF FIVE