Flightplan (2005)

Director:

Robert Schwentke

Writers (WGA):

Peter A. Dowling (written by) and
Billy Ray (written by)

Release Date:

23 September 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

If Someone Took Everything You Live For... How Far Would You Go To Get It Back?

Plot:

A claustrophobic, Hitchcockian thriller. A bereaved woman and her daughter are flying home from Berlin to America. At 30,000 feet the child vanishes and nobody admits she was ever on that plane.

Plot Keywords:

Government Agent | Torture | Surveillance Camera | Lost Child | Robbery

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Jodie Foster	...	Kyle Pratt
Peter Sarsgaard	...	Carson
Sean Bean	...	Captain Rich
Kate Beahan	...	Stephanie
Michael Irby	...	Obaid
Assaf Cohen	...	Ahmed
Erika Christensen	...	Fiona
Shane Edelman	...	Mr. Loud
Mary Gallagher	...	Mrs. Loud
Haley Ramm	...	Brittany Loud
Forrest Landis	...	Rhett Loud
Jana Kolesarova	...	Claudia
Brent Sexton	...	Elias
Marlene Lawston	...	Julia
Judith Scott	...	Estella

Also Known As:

Flight plan (France) [fr]
Flightplan (Finland) [fi]
Flightplan - Mistero in volo (Italy) [it]
Flightplan - Ohne jede Spur (Germany) [de]
Ha-Tissa (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
High jinx at thirty thousand feet (Hong Kong: Cantonese title) (literal English title) [zh]
Plan de vol (Canada: French title) [fr]
Plan de vuelo (Argentina) [es]
Plan de vuelo: Desaparecida (Spain) [es]
Plan leta (Serbia) [sr]
Plano de Vôo (Brazil) [pt]
Shedio ptisis (Greece) [el]
Uçus plani (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence and some intense plot material.

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | German | Arabic | Italian | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Germany:12 | New Zealand:M | USA:PG-13 (certificate #41961) | Hong Kong:IIA | Ireland:12A | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Czech Republic:12 | Brazil:14 | Netherlands:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Taiwan:PG-12 | Finland:K-11 | Sweden:11 | Indonesia:Dewasa | South Korea:12 | UK:12A | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

The cartoon that is played on the monitor when Kyle wakes up is "Kenny the Shark" (2003).

Goofs:

Continuity: When Stephanie is handed the flashlight to check avionics, the lamp is above her hand. In the next shot, it is below her hand.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mortuary Director: [in German, subtitled] Would you like a moment of privacy before the casket is sealed?
Kyle: [hesitantly] Okay.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in In-Flight Movie: The Making of 'Flightplan' (2006) (V)

Fasten your seat belts

"Flightplan" seems to have affected IMDb contributors like no other film in recent memory. Mostly is bad. We didn't catch up with this picture until recently. Frankly, we are puzzled as to why the hatred. Granted, the film had the potential for being better, but it's not the total failure as some of the comments in this forum will make one believe. It appears there's an agenda to mark "Flightplan" comments as not useful.

Director Robert Schwentke working with Peter Dowling and Billy Ray's screen play, hasn't added much to the film in order to make it a thriller to be reckoned with, but, in general, the film is not a total waste, as seems to be the perception among contributors.

In a way, "Flightplan" plays with the viewer's perception as to who is behind the disappearance of Julia, the six year old girl traveling with her mother, Kyle, to New York. Kyle has suffered a great tragedy in her life when her husband was found dead in her building's courtyard. The fact that Kyle hasn't been able to accept the death is clear in the first sequence when we see her sitting inside the Alexanderplaz metro station in Berlin.

Kyle, an aircraft designing engineer, is a good mother. One can imagine her panic when she wakes up from a nap to find Julia's gone. No one seems to have noticed the little girl; there is no record of she ever been on board. Kyle meets resistance from the crew of the flight. Even the sky marshal, Carson, is no help at all. What's a mother to do? If one is in Kyle's shoes, one starts taking matter into her own hands.

Jodie Foster does a good job portraying Kyle. She is a mother who doesn't take no for an answer. In fact, she is the one that unravels the mystery surrounding her daughter's disappearance. The climax sequence is perfectly set, as one would expect it to be.

Peter Sarsgaard, is Carson, the sky marshal traveling in the economy section. He is in charge of the safety of the passengers on the flight. In an unusual role for him, Mr. Sarsgaard has some good chances in the movie. Sean Bean plays the pilot of the jumbo jet. Kate Beahan is seen as one of the flight attendants. Erika Christiensen is also part of the crew.

The best way to enjoy the film is not to compare it to anything else and just go for the entertaining value in it because we know this is not a ground breaking film, but thanks to Mr. Schwentke and his cast, it offers us a bumpy ride of a film.