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Printer-Friendly ModeFlightplan a thriller with real plan, brings real questions
September 26, 2005 —
Flightplan is a pleasantly far cry from the last thriller based on a flight, Red Eye. Starring Jodie Foster in a similar role to the one she did in Panic Room, the movie is a thriller that isn't obsessed with scaring the viewer in the conventional sense. Rather, its subtle frights are given in questions. Is it possible for someone to make a little girl disappear? Do we pay enough attention to those around us to notice if someone is taken?
The film opens with some really tasteful and pleasing graphic effects involving the opening credits, accompanied by music from James Horner. Like most scores done by Horner, it is excellent, and adds more than it detracts. Also, like most of the rest of the movie, these sequences are not overdone or irritating, which is uncommon in a modern thriller.
We are initially treated to some slightly confusing shots of Foster and a coffin, but we learn eventually that her husband has died, apparently by an accidental fall from a roof. Foster is left alone with her six-year-old daughter, so she is naturally on edge. The section of her life we are shown is her journey by plane back to the U.S. to deliver his body.
These opening sequences are by far the weakest in the movie. Flightplan unfortunately suffers from the disease many thrillers have by having Foster lose the child for a short time in the airport. Why? There is no reason to have a "pre-loss" to show that the mother would panic upon losing her daughter. Opening interaction between mother and daughter shows that they have a good relationship and the mother loves the daughter very much. Why do such a thing when we already know that most mothers would panic upon the loss of her child? We are shortly thereafter treated to more unnecessary shots accentuating the love for the daughter.
However, after these few unfortunate scenes, the movie does very well. The daughter turns up missing, and Foster slowly plunges into panic. How is it possible that someone is missing on one plane already in flight? Sean Bean does an excellent job as the captain, who only tries to do the right thing throughout the ordeal. Foster actually becomes the most suspicious passenger, as none of the other passengers remember seeing her daughter, and there is no record of the daughter ever having boarded.
What the movie does so well is that everyone on the flight is under suspicion to the audience, including Foster herself. After a record of the girl's death is produced, we wonder if this is really some kind of conspiracy, or Foster is delusional with loss. Nothing shows us for certain the innocence of anyone on the flight. Flightplan also pushes some social buttons. A group of men of Middle Eastern descent are on board, and they become accused by Foster and others on the flight. Are they more or less suspicious than anyone else?
What Flightplan does that makes it succeed over so many countless other thrillers is that it makes sense. The situation does not rely on nearly impossible events for it to work. This comes across as something that could actually happen. Does it go over the top on occasion? Yes, but not so much that it alienates the audience. The movie keeps the viewer guessing right up until the mystery is revealed, and when it comes, it will probably surprise nearly everyone. Red Eye, you better be taking notes.