 "Photo: Lions Gate Films")
 "Photo: Lions Gate Films")
3 and half stars Flightplan Dir. by Robert Schwentke Lions Gate Films
Jodie Foster always seems to be getting herself into mystifyingly frightening situations. In her latest movie, Flightplan, she does just that when her 6-year-old daughter vanishes mid-flight between Berlin and New York.
I know what you're thinking, how can anyone get lost on an airplane 40,000 feet up in the air? That is the same question that runs through the crew's mindas Foster's character, Kyle Pratt, searches frantically through the plane causing mayhem.
Kyle happens to be one of the engineers who designed the new state-of-the-art E-474 aircraft they're traveling on and therefore insists that every crevice and closet be searched. The problem is that there is no trace of Kyle's daughter ever having boarded the plane (no one saw her and her name was not on the manifest). This problem causes the captain and crew to be doubtful of Kyle's sanity - after all, she had admitted to taking sleeping pills and anti-depressants earlier that day.
This possibility, along with Foster's yet again wonderful portrayal of a quick-thinking, resourceful woman (complete with a man's first name) leaves the audience in suspense as we all try to figure out if she really is hallucinating and "seeing" her bright-eyed daughter Julia (Marlene Lawston). After Kyle demands to speak with the captain and accuses an Arab man of taking her daughter, an in-flight marshal (Peter Sarsgaard) intervenes and begins to keep a tight watch on her to make sure she does not disrupt the flight any further. When Kyle whips off her classic black, long-sleeved blouse and reveals a tight grey tee, the audience knows what they are in for. Only the no-fuss Foster can play a victim, terrorist, lunatic, mother, and mastermind all within 20 minutes and get away with it.
Sarsgaard (Garden State) almost succeeds in playing the guy you love to hate as he orders Kyle around and mocks her for being completely delusional. He is, however, a little too low-key in this role (and fails to show his strengths as he did as the white-trash sidekick in Garden State).
Although director Schwentke didn't have a lot of space to play around with (considering 80 percent of the movie was shot on-board) he surely makes use of the entire jumbo jet. There are scenes from the cargo space below, the two floors of passenger seats, the pilot's cabin, and even the cramped bathrooms. The camera angles jump around from the ceiling to the ground to keep up with the intensity as Kyle climbs up and down air shafts and closets.
For anyone who goes to this movie expecting suspense, they will indeed find it. I was sure I had the entire thing figured out four different times before I realized the movie had many more twists than anticipated. Anyone who loves a good suspense movie will be satisfied, and Flightplan certainly leaves you exiting the theater casting sideways glances.
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