Flightplan

Jodie Foster seems to be happy remaining in thriller films and in fact, this story bears many similarities to Panic Room so keep in mind that Panic Room was a top notch thriller and that Foster usually makes good choices. Kyle Pratt, a jet propulsion engineer, is travelling back to New York on the very plane she helped design (large, double storey, advanced, sounds a lot like the new Airbus) with her daughter Julia. This is not a happy flight; she is travelling back with her husband’s coffin, who fell from a rooftop. Or so it’s claimed.

Mid-flight, she wakes up and Julia is not next to her. She begins searching. She begins questioning the stewardesses. She brings it up to the captain. She insists a full search be done. Then the truth is let out; Julia is not on the plane because she did not check in. Julia did not check in because she is dead along with her father. Clearly the woman is traumatised and hallucinating. But Kyle refuses to believe that is the truth and we the audience are left wondering, what is the truth? She begins to create havoc as she moves around the plane that she knows so well trying to discover what is happening. Perhaps it’s unfair to scare the other passengers like that, but a mother’s love takes first priority here.

Other than the fact that Kyle is so conveniently the designer of the aircraft, the movie is very much a smart and taut thriller. Good thrillers push the protagonist (and the audience) to the limit, with seemingly no room and no choices, and then have the protagonist figure out something that makes the audience cheer and think that’s smart. That happens often here. The film also benefits from a well-designed screenplay and a talented cast. In a year of thriller movies set on planes, this is the more tense and suspenseful one. If you love thrillers, don’t miss this.