Flightplan [WS]

Director: Robert Schwentke Robert Schwentke

Overview

A woman is forced to prove her own sanity to save the life of her daughter in this taut thriller. Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is a successful aircraft designer who has recently been dealing with the traumatic death of her husband. After traveling to Berlin on business with her six-year-old daughter, Julia (Marlene Lawston), Kyle falls asleep on their flight back to New York, only to discover that her daughter has gone missing. While not knowing where Julia has gone is troubling enough, even more disturbing is the insistence by sky marshal Gene Carson (Peter Sarsgaard) and Captain Rich (Sean Bean) that no records indicate that the child ever boarded the jet. As Kyle becomes increasingly desperate to find her daughter, she must prove to the men in charge that her daughter did in fact board the plane with her, and that this turn of events is not a product of her imagination. But if Julia has gone missing, who has taken her and why? Also starring Erika Christensen and Kate Beahan, Flightplan was the first English-language feature from German director Robert Schwentke.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/24/2006
UPC:	0786936270532
Original Release:	2005
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Touchstone / Disney
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	1:38:00
Sales rank:	3,637

Special Features

Closed Caption;"The In-Flight Movie: The Making of Flightplan" featurette; "Cabin Pressure: Designing the Aalto E-474" featurette; Filmmaker audio commentary

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jodie Foster	Kyle
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
Victoria Spark	Victoria
John Benjamin Hickey	David
Gavin Grazer	FBI Agent
Christopher Gartin	Mike
Neil Patil	Angry Passenger
Bess Wohl	Katerina
Stephanie Faracy	Anna
Christian Berkel	Mortuary Director
Cooper Thornton	West
Klaus Schindler	Metal Detector Guard 1
Eva Plackner	Ion Tracker Guard 1
Amanda Brooks	Irene
Jesse Burch	Row 19 Male Passenger
Greta Scacchi	Therapist
Drake Johnston	Main Deck Kid
Lois Hall	Main Deck Grandma
Dirk Vahle	Helicopter Pilot
Jana Kolesárová	Claudia
Matt Bomer	Eric,Eric
Kirk B.R. Woller	Grunick
James Horner	Composer

Technical Credits

Peter A. Dowling

Billy Ray

Robert Schwentke	Director
Peter A. Dowling	Screenwriter
Billy Ray	Screenwriter
Brian Grazer	Producer
Sarah Bowen	Producer
Robert DiNozzi	Producer
Erica Huggins	Producer,Executive Producer
Charles J.D. Schlissel	Producer,Executive Producer
James Whitaker	Producer,Producer,Executive Producer
Alp Altiner	Special Effects
The Picture Mill	Producer
Eric Budlong	Key Grip
Deborah Aquila	Casting
Lynn Salvatori	Stunts
Meegan Godfrey	Stunts
Robert DiNozzi	Executive Producer
Leslie Percy, Jr.	Key Grip
Michael C. Price	Key Grip
Jan Raskin	Key Grip
Jennifer Smith	Casting
Annette Borgmann	Casting
Tony Donno	Stunts
Kim Koscki	Stunts
Craig Aines	Key Grip
Heiko Jorke	Key Grip
Nina Gold	Casting
Robert Eber	Sound Mixer
Jon Title	Sound/Sound Designer
Simon Rhodes	Sound Mixer

Editorial Reviews

A chilling variation on the old “locked room” whodunit, Flightplan is a tense thriller that, like the best of that type, tells a highly improbable story with cold, implacable logic. Jet-propulsion engineer Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster), accompanied by her young daughter, Julia (Marlene Lawston), flies from Berlin to New York on an airliner she helped design. The journey is already a sad one for Kyle: She’s bringing home the body of her recently deceased husband. But the trip gets worse when she wakes up from a mid-flight nap to find Julia gone -- and nobody remembers having seen the child to begin with. Working from a nearly airtight script, director Robert Schwentke (Tattoo) extracts the fullest possible measure of suspense from every sequence. His job is made easier by Foster’s sensational performance. The Oscar-winning actress is so convincing as the distraught, tightly wound -- and possibly mentally disturbed -- widow that you’ll begin to wonder if the child isn’t a figment of her overworked imagination. The supporting players deliver naturalistic, casual portrayals that reinforce Schwentke’s depiction of a normal transatlantic flight thrown into turmoil by the increasingly harsh ravings of what appears to be a deranged woman. Peter Sarsgaard is competence personified as a no-nonsense air marshal; Sean Bean impresses as the concerned captain; and Erika Christensen shines as a sympathetic flight attendant. For its first two-thirds the film recalls Alfred Hitchcock’s classic The Lady Vanishes, but the third act shifts into action-movie mode and brings to mind Die Hard, among others. Once the film is over you may be able to chip away at the solution and find some inconsistencies, but while it’s unfolding Flightplan will keep you glued to your seat -- and that’s just what you want in a nail-biter, isn’t it?