Flightplan *** (2005, Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Sean Bean) – Classic Movie Review 2285

How can bereaved mum Jodie Foster’s little girl simply vanish into thin air on a plane flying at 30,000ft from Berlin to the US? Sorry, it could just never happen! And the writers Peter A Dowling and Billy Ray are never able to convince us to suspend our disbelief.

Unlike Foster’s equally artificial Panic Room or the recent Red Eye, this fun suspense thriller is not classy but trashy. The yarn is absurd throughout, with a full cargo of characters behaving bizarrely, lots of loose ends and preposterous moments, but it’s the ridiculous denouement that totally scuppers it.

However, Foster carries on – and carries it off – like the old trouper she is and Sean Bean gives a very decent, low-key performance as the plane’s captain, though Peter Sarsgaard merely contributes his stock shifty acting as the undercover flight security officer.

It does have an efficient, costly-looking production with sharp and striking cinematography by the talented Florian Ballhaus (though some of the visual effects aren’t very special). But the lack of suspects and credibility keeps tension low flying. Grabbing some ideas from Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes might have been intended as an homage but it seems like a darned cheek.

Robert Schwentke (the director of Insurgent in 2015)  directs with capable and determined German efficiency and seriousness, intent on making it seem much better than it really is. And, to some extent, that works, producing one of those guilty pleasure entertainments.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2285

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com