flight plan movie review

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

FILM REVIEW

Hunting for a Child No One Believes Is There

By Manohla Dargis

• Sept. 23, 2005

In my next life, I want Jodie Foster to be my mother. (Sorry, Mom.) In her last two major films, David Fincher's "Panic Room" and the new thrill-free thriller "Flightplan," from the German director Robert Schwentke, this awards-bedecked actress has played the world's most ferocious single mother who, forced to protect her only daughter, swats bad men like flies. In between these two films, Ms. Foster delivered a gemstone performance in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "Very Long Engagement," as a married woman who turns to a stranger to become pregnant. In the film she made before "Panic Room," the independent scrap "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys," she played a Catholic nun, Sister Assumpta.

Performers take roles for all sorts of reasons, and perhaps one day a cinema studies student will proffer a dissertation on the roles recently favored by Ms. Foster. Until then, there are only the films to consider, though as of late they have not been worth much consideration. Written by Peter A. Dowling and Billy Ray, "Flightplan" fuses the woman-in-jeopardy flick and the paranoid woman's film. Although these types of stories often overlap -- the paranoid woman is always in jeopardy, if only in her head, as in Hitchcock's "Suspicion" -- not every woman in jeopardy is necessarily paranoid. She's just the means to a larger end, a single piece in a complicated puzzle. She is often also a total screaming pain.

In "Flightplan," Ms. Foster plays Kyle, an American propulsion engineer making her way from Berlin to New York with her husband's body in the hold. Also in hand is Kyle's 6-year-old daughter, Julia (Marlene Lawston), a sober little beauty still visibly shaken by her father's recent death. After some story preliminaries -- a creepy trip to the morgue, a creepier stroll down memory lane -- mother and daughter board their flight. Soon thereafter, the lights dim, and Kyle and Julia each stretch out in an empty row. Just when you think it might be time to join them, Kyle wakes and discovers that Julia has gone missing, vanished without apparent trace. Well, not entirely: left behind are a stuffed animal, Julia's passport and a clue borrowed from another Hitchcock thriller, "The Lady Vanishes."

What follows is a protracted search, some shameless nods to Sept. 11 and a lot of crying. To watch Ms. Foster storm through a phony airplane for an entire movie has its very minor pleasures -- given the numerous close-ups, you can study her lovely face at your leisure -- but there is nothing here to feed the head or fray the nerves. And while the crew and the passengers are not on Kyle's side (they think she's nuts), Ms. Foster's stardom, as well as the filmmaking, ensure that the audience most definitely is, which wreaks havoc on the suspense. All that the restless viewer can do is marvel at the snazzy production design and the strange elocution of Ms. Foster's co-star, Peter Sarsgaard (as a sky marshal), who serves up his lines as if he had studied at the John Malkovich school of cinematic expediency.

"Flightplan" is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). There are moderate fights and one explosion.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

• For Parents
• For Educators
• Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

• Movie Reviews
• Best Movie Lists
• Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

• Best TV Lists
• Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
• Common Sense Selections for TV
• Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

• Book Reviews
• Best Book Lists
• Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

• Game Reviews
• Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

• Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

• Podcast Reviews
• Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

• App Reviews
• Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

• YouTube Channel Reviews
• YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

• Preschoolers (2-4)
• Little Kids (5-7)
• Big Kids (8-9)
• Pre-Teens (10-12)
• Teens (13+)
• Screen Time
• Social Media
• Online Safety
• Identity and Community

How to Help Kids Build Character Strengths with Quality Media

• Family Tech Planners
• Digital Skills
• All Articles
• Latino Culture
• Black Voices
• Asian Stories
• Native Narratives
• LGBTQ+ Pride
• Best of Diverse Representation List

Multicultural Books

YouTube Channels with Diverse Representations

Podcasts with Diverse Characters and Stories

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 3 Reviews
• Kids Say 9 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

By Cynthia Fuchs , based on child development research. How do we rate?

Tense but riveting thriller, best for teens+.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that the film's premise is a missing child, a timely topic but also potentially disturbing for younger viewers. The film focuses on the mother's panic when her 6-year-old daughter disappears midflight on an airbus, which offers up plenty of high-techy, brightly-lit space to be searched…

Why Age 13+?

A father's suicide referenced at start; action picks up later including phys

Tense arguments. A few uses of "s--t" as well as "hell" and

Some drinks discussed by flight attendants.

Brief flirtation between flight attendants.

Any Positive Content?

Villains are tricky, authorities (the captain and flight attendants) are slow to

Violence & Scariness

A father's suicide referenced at start; action picks up later including physical fights and a bomb ticking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Tense arguments. A few uses of "s--t" as well as "hell" and "Goddamn."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Villains are tricky, authorities (the captain and flight attendants) are slow to pick up on villainy, and mother is admirably resolute throughout.

Parents need to know that the film's premise is a missing child, a timely topic but also potentially disturbing for younger viewers. The film focuses on the mother's panic when her 6-year-old daughter disappears midflight on an airbus, which offers up plenty of high-techy, brightly-lit space to be searched. The mother displays tears, fear, and rage at the crew, who question her sanity. There is an apparent suicide (the film includes discussion of a fall off a rooftop, and some flashbacks/dreams of the victim's last night alive). The movie also features some violence, as the mother fights crew members and an air marshal, as well as threats of a hijacking and a bomb on the plane. Most important, parents should know that the tension is frequently very taut; be aware of what your child might tolerate and understand. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (3)
• Kids say (9)

Based on 3 parent reviews

Joy ride for teens & adults!

A tense, riveting thriller..., what's the story.

Newly widowed Kyle (Jodie Foster) is transporting the body of her husband back to the States aboard a giant airbus that Kyle helped to design. With her is their daughter, six-year-old Julia (Marlene Lawson). Both fall asleep early in the flight. Kyle wakes up a couple of hours into the flight to find Julia missing. Though she tries to approach crew members and Captain Rich (Sean Bean) with respect, she's increasingly unnerved by their suggestions that she's worrying needlessly, and then that the girl doesn't exist. As the crew and passengers are increasingly turning against Kyle, she fights to find Julia.

Is It Any Good?

As suddenly widowed mother and propulsion engineer Kyle Pratt, Foster provides a broad range of emotion. Practical-minded and self-contained in her grief, Kyle first appears in middream, walking with her dead husband through Berlin's snowy streets, wishing that she might stop him from ascending to their rooftop -- from which he fell or jumped. While it provides an apt showcase for the brilliant Jodie Foster and delivers effective tension in its early scenes, by the end, FLIGHTPLAN dissolves into clichés. But there are enough thrills to keep teens and adults interested.

But the movie never veers from Kyle's perspective, which means viewers believe her and suspect a plot. This is especially true when Air Marshal Gene Carson (Peter Sarsgaard) comes up with some completely inappropriate niggling: "Your husband's death is starting to make a lot more sense to me -- a couple more hours and I'm ready to jump." Right. With outrageous motivation like that, you're ready for the silly plot turns that turn Kyle into Action Mom.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the portrayal of Kyle's evolving distress: how is she sympathetic in her fear and anger? How does her briefly sketched relationship with her daughter Julia help to establish this sympathy, even when everyone else on the plane thinks she's lost her mind? And how does the film use racial profiling of "Arab" passengers (in Kyle and other passengers' accusations)? Is this reasonable or unreasonable under these circumstances?

Movie Details

• In theaters : September 23, 2005
• On DVD or streaming : January 24, 2006
• Cast : Jodie Foster , Peter Sarsgaard , Sean Bean
• Director : Robert Schwentke
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Buena Vista
• Genre : Thriller
• Run time : 93 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : violence and some intense plot material
• Last updated : May 23, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Letterboxd — Your life in film

Forgotten username or password ?

• Start a new list…
• Add all films to a list…
• Add all films to watchlist

Add to your films…

Press Tab to complete, Enter to create

A moderator has locked this field.

Add to lists

Where to watch

Directed by Robert Schwentke

If someone took everything you live for... how far would you go to get it back?

Flying at 40,000 feet in a state-of-the art aircraft that she helped design, Kyle Pratt's 6-year-old daughter Julia vanishes without a trace. Or did she? No one on the plane believes Julia was ever onboard. And now Kyle, desperate and alone, can only count on her own wits to unravel the mystery and save her daughter.

Jodie Foster Peter Sarsgaard Erika Christensen Kate Beahan Greta Scacchi Judith Scott Sean Bean Michael Irby Brent Sexton Marlene Lawston Stephanie Faracy Forrest Landis Assaf Cohen Shane Edelman Mary Gallagher Haley Ramm Jana Kolesárová John Benjamin Hickey Matt Bomer Gavin Grazer Chris Gartin Bess Wohl Kirk B.R. Woller Christian Berkel Cooper Thornton Klaus Schindler Eva Plackner Amanda Brooks Jesse Burch Show All… Drake Johnston Lois Hall Dana Kristen Vahle Ina Barrón

Director Director

Robert Schwentke

Producers Producers

Brian Grazer Sarah Bowen Marcus Loges

Writers Writers

Billy Ray Peter A. Dowling

Casting Casting

Deborah Aquila Tricia Wood Jennifer L. Smith

Editor Editor

Cinematography cinematography.

Florian Ballhaus

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Jonathan Watson Ryan Craig

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Jim Whitaker Robert DiNozzi Erica Huggins Charles J.D. Schlissel

Lighting Lighting

Brian Bartolini Katharina Dießner Jack English

Camera Operators Camera Operators

Christopher Duskin Jacques Jouffret Thomas Lappin Andrew Rowlands

Additional Photography Add. Photography

Nicolas Restrepo Bennett Cerf

Production Design Production Design

Alec Hammond

Art Direction Art Direction

Kevin Ishioka Gerald Sullivan Sebastian T. Krawinkel

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Simon-Julien Boucherie Kathy Lucas Roy Barnes Harry E. Otto Adrian Gorton Mick Cukurs Timothy M. Earls Sam Page Foster Vick Mike Higelmire John Horning Paul Mugavero Scott M. Anderson

Special Effects Special Effects

John S. Baker

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Alp Altiner Melissa Brockman Mark Freund Josh Mossotti Rob Hodgson Henric Nieminen Gregory D. Liegey Darin McCormick-Millett Edson Williams

Stunts Stunts

Jill Stokesberry Tony Donno Meegan E. Godfrey Kim Robert Koscki Lynn Salvatori

Composer Composer

James Horner

Sound Sound

Craig Mann Jon Title Kerry Ann Carmean Robert Eber Dave McMoyler Myron Nettinga Michael Minkler Dino DiMuro Mandell Winter Dan Hegeman James Moriana Jeffrey Wilhoit Nerses Gezalyan

Costume Design Costume Design

Susan Lyall

Makeup Makeup

Heidi Seeholzer Tarra D. Day Vera Steimberg Michelle Vittone Gigi Williams Julie Hewett Petra Schaumann Valeska Schitthelm

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Deborah Ann Piper Nanci Cascio Cammy R. Langer Shana Fruman Medusah Frances Mathias Petra Schaumann Valeska Schitthelm

Touchstone Pictures Imagine Entertainment

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

Arabic German English French Italian Japanese

Releases by Date

05 oct 2005, 04 nov 2005, 06 nov 2005, 22 sep 2005, 23 sep 2005, 30 sep 2005, 06 oct 2005, 07 oct 2005, 13 oct 2005, 14 oct 2005, 20 oct 2005, 21 oct 2005, 26 oct 2005, 27 oct 2005, 09 nov 2005, 10 nov 2005, 11 nov 2005, 16 nov 2005, 17 nov 2005, 18 nov 2005, 23 nov 2005, 24 nov 2005, 25 nov 2005, 09 dec 2005, 28 jan 2006, 23 feb 2021, 03 may 2006, 09 may 2006, 21 mar 2007, 01 sep 2008, releases by country.

• Theatrical M
• Premiere Cinemania Film Festival
• Premiere Palace Film Festival
• Theatrical 15
• Theatrical K-12
• Physical DVD
• Physical Blu-Ray
• Digital Disney+
• Theatrical 12
• Theatrical 12A
• Theatrical G
• Theatrical B

Netherlands

• Physical 12 DVD
• Physical 12 SBS 6

Philippines

Serbia and montenegro, south korea.

• Theatrical 11

Switzerland

• Premiere 12 Zurich Film Festival

Syrian Arab Republic

• Theatrical 保護級
• Theatrical PG-13

United Arab Emirates

98 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Gabby ✨ ★★★½ 4

The fact that everyone was complaining about being disturbed over A MISSING CHILD is beyond me.

Review by Maria ★★★½ 11

I bet the airline only gave her a $100 voucher off her next flight as compensation for the "inconvenience" they caused.

Review by bruna ★★★½ 3

wow the power of milfs

Review by Chris Evangelista ★★★ 1

I love that the plane is so big it has a basement and an attic and a bar.

Review by kayla 𓏲୭ ★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

they gaslit the fuck outta her…

Review by mrym ★★★½

the arab man deserved a huge apology idc

Review by Nakul ★★★

"The Lady Vanishes" on a plane. Sure there are silly, far-fetched plotholes & you can predict what happens next and how it all ends but the movie was engaging throughout and Jodie Foster totally elevated it.

Review by Fernando Pelaez Rovalo ★★½ 3

This movie fits the sub-genre of “movies that can be playing on cable and even if it’s textbook mediocrity I’ll watch it till the end cause I’m somewhat entertained.”

Review by DirkH ★★ 1

Don't know what's more infuriatingly ridiculous, the lobotomized premise or the fact that Sean Bean doesn't die.

Review by Mark Marshall ★★

I hope Jodie Foster left a scathing Yelp review after this was all done.

Review by holly 🕸️ ★★★

yes i believe in jodie foster supremacy ❤️

Review by James Reynov ★★ 1

Even I just wanted her to just sit the fuck down and relax.

Similar Films

Select your preferred backdrop

Select your preferred poster, upgrade to remove ads.

Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. Please consider upgrading to a Pro account —for less than a couple bucks a month, you’ll get cool additional features like all-time and annual stats pages ( example ), the ability to select (and filter by) your favorite streaming services, and no ads!

The Ending Of Flightplan Explained

The 2005 psychological action thriller "Flightplan" stars Academy Award winner Jodie Foster as Kyle Pratt, who suffers every parent's nightmare when she loses track of her daughter. The bigger problem, though, is that they're trapped aboard an international flight from Berlin to the United States, and there are only so many places her daughter could have gone.

Pratt's ordeal takes an even more sinister turn when newly discovered evidence suggests that her daughter may be little more than a figment of her imagination, and she's suddenly faced with the possibility of losing her grip on reality. Is it possible that Julia (Marlene Lawston) doesn't actually exist? Or is there an intricate deception going on, a complex plot being carried about by some unknown agent aboard the plane conspiring to kidnap her daughter for a nefarious purpose? These are the questions that Pratt must face, and the audience must attempt to unravel as the flight heads to its destination.

During the course of the film, it seems like an enemy could be around any corner. Could it be a scheme by international terrorists or a conniving captain, or is the flight's designated sky marshal know more than he's letting on? In a stunning final act, all the answers are revealed. And we're here to get to the bottom of it all, from a nerve-wracking chase through the bowels of the plane to the film's many spine-tingling twists. Stow away your tray tables and put your seat in an upright position, because this is the ending of "Flightplan" explained.

What you need to know about Flightplan

When "Flightplan" begins, Kyle Pratt — an airline engineer (and designer of the Elgin E-474 double-decker passenger jet) is in Germany, identifying the body of her husband David (John Benjamin Hickey), who recently died after a fall. Kyle is having visions of her husband and is understandably distraught, but must collect her young daughter Julia for the trip back to the United States. With her husband's body in a casket secured with a digital passcode, they board an Elgin E-474 and depart for home.

Not long after takeoff, however, Kyle loses sight of Julia aboard the plane when she falls asleep after taking anxiety medication. Captain Rich ( Sean Bean ) reluctantly orders a search of the jet from nose to tail but turns up nothing. Kyle is even more disturbed, however, when she learns that nobody aboard seems to even remember that her daughter existed, and Julia's name is not on the plane's manifest. Then, when records back in Berlin say that Julia died along with David, Kyle must face the possibility that she's suffering from hallucinations. 

But Kyle's discovery of her daughter's presence — in the form of a heart she'd drawn on the plane's window — sends her on a desperate fight to prove her daughter has been kidnapped. Knowing the ins and outs of the plane's design, she must elude the crew, including sky marshal Gene Carson (Peter Saarsgard), to find Julia and discover who is responsible for her daughter's disappearance before it's too late.

What happened at the end of Flightplan?

Throughout "Flightplan," Kyle is presented with overwhelming proof that she's been suffering from tragedy-induced hallucinations: She's told that her daughter is dead, and the lead flight attendant even insists that Julia never boarded with her. Meanwhile, Carson the sky marshal — sympathizing with her plight –  enlists the aid of a therapist among the passengers to help her understand that what's happening may all be in her mind. But Kyle is unwilling to shake the feeling that something may have happened to Julia aboard the plane, and she rushes to find her daughter, who she believes has been kidnapped by an unknown enemy.

Sneaking into the plane's hold, Kyle unlocks her husband's casket, thinking Julia may be hidden inside, but finds only David's lifeless body. But because she's gone rogue, Captain Rich believes Kyle is now a danger to the flight, and has the flight diverted to Newfoundland, where they will have her arrested. It's then that Rich is informed that Kyle is not what she appears, and is told that she's actually a terrorist holding the flight hostage for a large ransom, and has been using her daughter's apparent disappearance as a ruse. 

Kyle realizes that she's being framed as a hijacker when the plane lands in Newfoundland. Knowing her daughter is still hidden aboard the plane, and deducing the mastermind of the entire plot, Kyle thinks on her feet to turn the tables on the real villain.

Who is the real villain in Flightplan?

Perhaps trying to recapture the eerieness of movies like "The Sixth Sense" or "Fight Club," the realization that Julia may only be a figment of Kyle's imagination casts a pall over much of the film. Could Kyle be losing her sanity, and inventing the entire scenario to cope with the death of her husband and child? The reality, however, is that Julia did indeed board the plane, and was kidnapped as part of an elaborate plot to ransom the flight for $50 million dollars. And it was Carson — the flight's designated sky marshal — who was behind the entire affair, and he's told Captain Rich that she's the real hijacker in an effort to get away with his crime.

In a shocking final twist, though, we learn that Carson isn't just a fiendish arch-criminal, he's also a murderer: He was responsible for the death of Kyle's husband David, who he'd killed to ensure a secured casket would be aboard the flight. Only with the casket aboard would he have had a means of smuggling the necessary explosives aboard the plane undetected. Julia's kidnapping was the second phase of his plan. 

Sedating the six-year-old, he planned to keep little Julia hidden away, using her disappearance to drive Kyle to search the hold and enter her secret password to unlock the casket. This would give him access to the explosives which he'd set around the plane to threaten its destruction while framing Kyle for the whole thing.

Who was involved in the plot and what happened to them?

Gene Carson is the mastermind behind the plot to hijack the flight out of Berlin, and he kidnaps little Julia to set his plan in motion. But he doesn't do it alone, and actually has other accomplices working behind the scenes, though it's not immediately clear who they are and what part they played. Though some may have suspected Captain Rich given his nasty attitude, it's actually Stephanie (Kate Beahan), the lead flight attendant, who is his primary accomplice. Though not said directly, it was likely Stephanie who altered the flight's manifest and deleted Julia's name, and it was her word about not seeing Julia with her during boarding that helps sway others into believing that the child was never there.

In addition, the film's final scenes reveal that a mortuary worker in Berlin has been arrested as a part of the scheme. It was this third accomplice who was responsible for falsifying the records of Julia's death. Stephanie is arrested by the FBI in Newfoundland. But when it comes to Carson, it's up to Kyle to take him down.

Upon their landing, she realizes she's being set up. In an attempt to save lives and catch Carson, she plays along with his plan, poses as the real terrorist, and orders everyone off the plane except for the two of them. Knowing the inside of the plane inside and out, she's able to rescue her daughter from the secret avionics compartment and lock Carson inside where she detonates the explosives, killing him in a massive fireball.

What was the Flightplan really about?

"Flightplan" can easily be seen for what it appears to be on the surface: A psychological thriller and suspenseful action movie about a woman determined to stop a villain who has kidnapped her daughter. The question of whether the fiendish plot is real or imagined makes it a mind-bender, too, but there is much more going on beneath the surface that audiences may not have even realized.

At its core, "Flightplan" is about dealing with a life-changing event. The story of Kyle, who is shaken by the loss of her husband so profoundly that she struggles to maintain her sanity, explores what it takes to re-awaken from tragedy. Brought back to reality thanks to the disappearance of her daughter, "Flightplan" examines "the fragility of existence" and how helpless it can feel to not be in control, said director Robert Schwentke in a 2005 interview with Phase 9 .

"I had cancer when I was 27 and I was misdiagnosed and so by the time they caught it, it was a bit of a problem and I spent a lot of time in the hospital. And since then I just sort of think you're not in control. You may think you're in control but you're really not." Schwentke had already made a film about his experience, the German comedy "Eierdeibe," but "Flightplan" allowed him to deal with the more serious side. "The movie starts with somebody who has just experienced a tremendous tragedy ... And she has to really rebuild her psyche, and rebuild her world."

What has the cast and crew said about the ending of Flightplan?

Director Robert Schwentke isn't the only one to discuss the ending of "Flightplan." Star Jodie Foster also opened up about her character Kyle's evolving story in the film, and where she winds up when it's all said and done. Describing the film as "a personal journey," she said it's "a glimpse at how one woman reacts under the greatest sort of stress and panic," during an interview with noted film critic  Emmanuel Levy . "Kyle isn't really so much heroic as she is absolutely driven. She might sometimes be brash, sometimes irrational, other times manipulative. But she will do anything she can to find her daughter."

By contrast, Foster's co-star Peter Saarsgard talked about the difficulties in shooting the film's ending, particularly a moment when Kyle forces the plane into a crash-landing procedure. "The gas masks coming down" was the toughest part for him, according to his own chat with Phase 9 . "And there were so many extras and when the masks come down all hell is breaking loose." Still, the stress he felt filming that sequence, he admitted, was nothing compared to what all the extras had to deal with. "I give a lot of credit to those extras because they sat in the same seats for three months and we're not allowed to leave the plane — and yes they were in coach!"

How the end of Flightplan divided fans and critics

When "Flightplan" was released to theaters in 2005, it was met with decidedly mixed reviews from critics and fans. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it sits at just 37% among the pros, though audiences were more favorable. It seems the ending of the film, and especially its multiple twists, is one big reason why it divided opinions. Those who disliked it, like  Empire Magazine , weren't won over, knocking it for plenty of plot holes and a final act that lacks "the big suckerpunch or storytelling grace to deliver a satisfying resolution." That said, it received plenty of positive reviews, too.

Both Roger Ebert and the Observer gave the film good reviews, with the latter calling it an "effective thriller." Ebert meanwhile awarded it an impressive three-and-a-half stars while praising the film's many twists and ability to keep the audience guessing. In fact, he outright refused to discuss the plot beyond its opening set-up because he apparently felt the ending was so successful that he didn't want to spoil it for viewers. "If someone tries to tell you anything else about 'Flightplan,' walk away."

Still, even some who liked the movie weren't wholly satisfied with the ending. "There are a few too many turns towards the end, and the climax errs towards anti-climatic," said Joshua Starnes of ComingSoon.net , while still recommending the film and giving it a pretty solid 7 out of 10 rating.

How casting subverted the audience's expectations

Throughout "Flightplan," the audience is constantly kept wondering what's really going on, with new information that makes one rethink everything. From the discovery that Julia's name isn't on the manifest, to a call with officials in Berlin that reveals Kyle's daughter actually died in an accident, nothing is as it seems. Repeatedly, viewers are forced to question everyone in the movie and wonder what their motives might be, and as it turns out, the film used its casting to help ratchet up the suspense, as explained in a behind-the-scenes featurette.

Executive producer Robert Dinozzi said that they wanted to keep audiences guessing about eventual villain Gene Carson, and cast Peter Saarsgard. A lesser-known actor at the time, a decade before he played the sinister Bogue in the remake of "The Magnificent Seven," his biggest roles at that point were playing soft-spoken types. "Not being able to identify Peter [Saarsgard] as the villain until very late in the movie allows us to also perhaps aim the audience's attention at characters like [Captain Rich]," Dinozzi said . 

To throw off the audience further, the film intentionally chose Sean Bean, known for playing villains, in the role of Rich, who they knew audiences would immediately suspect as being the baddie. "I've seen a lot of movies with Sean [Bean] and he seems to be typecast for a very specific type of role," Dinozzi said, perhaps alluding to his villainous parts in movies like "Patriot Games," "GoldenEye," and the previous year's "National Treasure." 

How the story of Flightplan changed during development

The climax of "Flightplan" almost turned out very differently than what we got on screen. According to director Robert Schwetke, he completely overhauled the original script, which initially featured a totally different kind of protagonist. "The movie was actually written for a man," he an interview with MTV . As the director described, the male hero struggled to connect with his daughter, who he rarely sees, before her disappearance. "Then we had the idea ... maybe we need to do this with a mother."

The terrorist attacks on 9/11 also forced a major shift in the story. While the finished film does capture the paranoia of post-9/11 air travel, particularly in a subplot related to a pair of Middle Eastern passengers who are wrongly accused of abducting Kyle's daughter, the original version of the film was more overtly a story of an in-flight hijacking. "It had been written prior to 9/11 and it dealt with terrorists on board of a commercial airliner en route to New York," Schwentke told Phase 9 . One draft would have seen an airport security officer lose track of his son, and fight to take down a fiendish terrorist plot in mid-air.

 "Post-9/11 there's not a lot of pleasure in that," Schwentke acknowledged. "I just felt that we could put the emphasis on whether the girl, Jodie's character's daughter, exists or not, and make that the dramatic engine of the movie." 

How the ending of Flighplan caused a real-life controversy

There are loads of thrilling moments and even some heart-stopping action in "Flightplan," from the tension of a missing child to the explosive finale. Yet there was one other bit of excitement surrounding the film beyond the cheers from fans singing its praises. There was a group of detractors whose assessment of the film was harsher than even its worst reviews, and it stirred up a scandal on the film's release thanks to the movie's twist ending.

As detailed by the Guardian not long after "Flightplan" hit theaters, the Association of Flight Attendants, the union that speaks on behalf of flight crews in the United States — along with sister union the Professional Flight Attendants Association — condemned the film for its portrayal of the staff aboard the movie's airline. In particular, they took issue with how unhelpful many of the flight attendants in the film were, which they believe gave them a bad name, as well as for portraying the leading flight attendant as a participant in a terrorist plot. 

Calling the film an "outrage," the organization's president Patricia Friend said bluntly that "We will tell Hollywood that this disrespect to our profession is not going to fly." Their hopes of sparking a widespread boycott of the film, however, proved fruitless, as the film easily captured the top spot at the box office the weekend it landed in cinemas, en route to a spectacular $223 million dollar worldwide finish.

Flightplan (2005)

Movie Details

Stream & watch flightplan.

Trailers & Clips

Cast & Crew

Featured news.

Similar Movies

Movie Reviews

Follow Moviefone

Latest trailers.

🙌 Awesome, you're subscribed!

Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon!

Get us in your inbox

Sign up to our newsletter for the latest and greatest from your city and beyond

By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions.

Awesome, you're subscribed!

The best things in life are free.

Sign up for our email to enjoy your city without spending a thing (as well as some options when you’re feeling flush).

Déjà vu! We already have this email. Try another?

Love the mag?

Our newsletter hand-delivers the best bits to your inbox. Sign up to unlock our digital magazines and also receive the latest news, events, offers and partner promotions.

• Things to Do
• Food & Drink
• Arts & Culture
• Time Out Market
• Coca-Cola Foodmarks
• Los Angeles

Time Out says

Release details.

• Release date: Friday 25 November 2005
• Duration: 98 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: Robert Schwentke
• Jodie Foster
• Peter Sarsgaard
• Kate Beahan
• Michael Irby
• Assaf Cohen

Been there, done that? Think again, my friend.

Discover Time Out original video

• Press office
• Investor relations
• Work for Time Out
• Editorial guidelines
• Privacy notice
• Do not sell my information
• Cookie policy
• Accessibility statement
• Terms of use
• Modern slavery statement
• Manage cookies
• Advertising

Time Out Worldwide

• All Time Out Locations
• North America
• South America
• South Pacific

Flightplan (United States, 2005)

Flightplan is the latest motion picture to take an intriguing premise and flush it into the septic tank. Despite the participation of selective, talented actress Jodie Foster and a screenplay that borrows heavily from The Lady Vanishes , Flightplan can't avoid falling apart during its final half-hour. Instead of an intelligent, inventive finale, we are stuck with the same approach employed by every half-baked thriller. The absurd conclusion would be laughable if it wasn't such a disappointment. And anyone mentioning the words "surprise twist" in association with this film is betraying an ignorance of the conventions of the genre.

Foster plays Kyle, a propulsion engineer who, with her young daughter, Julia (Marlene Lawston), in tow, is traveling from Berlin to New York to bury her dead husband. Their airplane is a state-of-the-art skyliner. Kyle knows it well, since she helped design it. Shortly after takeoff, she drifts into a deep sleep. When she awakens three hours later, with the plane over the Atlantic Ocean, Julia is missing. Kyle begins searching - calmly at first, then with increasing anxiety when she can't find her daughter. She enlists the aid of a sky martial, Carson (Peter Saarsgard), several members of the flight crew, and the captain (Sean Bean) - all to no avail. No one remembers seeing Julia, and there is a growing suspicion that the girl's presence on the flight is a figure of the mother's imagination.

That's the interesting part of Flightplan . It's what they show in the previews and commercials to get you into a theater. Kyle, unhinged by the loss of her daughter, races up and down aisles, escapes through a ceiling tile in the bathroom, and tries to break into the cockpit. What the film keeps hidden are the events that occur during the awful final act, when logic is thrown out the hatch. Once you start putting the pieces together, it's easy to see where the movie is going. We have seen this kind of story before, although admittedly not on an airplane. By comparison, Red Eye (also about terror at 30,000 feet) was a masterpiece of plotting.

Most thrillers diverge from reality at some point. That's when the skill of the director comes into play. One could argue, for example, that Die Hard is no less preposterous than Flightplan . But John McTiernan, who helmed the Bruce Willis action movie, undersood what it takes to keep the audience's disbelief suspended. The same is not true of Flightplan 's director, Robert Schwentke. The moment plot elements start going over the top, he loses the audience. Alfred Hitchcock used the term "refrigerator movie" to describe a film with absurd plot twists that are recognized by a viewer only in retrospect - later in the evening, while getting a late-night snack out of the refrigerator. Unfortunately, with Flightplan , the holes become apparent as soon as they develop. Instead of being plugged, they grow larger and more obvious.

At least there's some solid acting. Foster is convincing as the desperate mother, and she plays some scenes so close to the edge that we wonder if Kyle is delusional. Sean Bean, who often plays villains, is effective as the captain with a dilemma to resolve. Next time I fly, I want a captain with this kind of in-control presence. Peter Sarsgaard, one of today's better young character actors, is wasted in the thankless role of the air marshal. For much of the film, all he does is shadow Foster and look sulky.

Flightplan has a strong Hitchcock connection. In particular, it borrows from The Lady Vanishes . The premise is similar, but that's not where the pilfering stops. Screenwriters Peter A. Dowling and Billy Ray also use the unwitting "message on the window" and the hysteria of the female protagonist. It's when Flightplan goes beyond Hitchcock and The Lady Vanishes that it runs into problems. The "new" material added to the film isn't as compelling as the "updated" stuff. Too facilitate the conventional ending, many intriguing possibilities are left unexplored. The trajectory of Flightplan resembles that of a plane on a troubled flight: at the beginning, it soars, then it levels off before going into a tailspin from which it never recovers.

Comments Add Comment

• Rear Window (1954)
• Sleuth (1969)
• Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
• Neon Demon, The (2016)
• Left Behind (2014)
• Jade (1995)
• Contact (1997)
• Taxi Driver (1969)
• Brave One, The (2007)
• Nim's Island (2008)
• Carnage (2011)
• Hotel Artemis (2018)
• Boys Don't Cry (1999)
• Jarhead (2005)
• Elegy (2008)
• Orphan (2009)
• Lie, The (2020)
• Rendition (2007)
• Lord of the Rings, The: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
• Martian, The (2015)
• Goldeneye (1995)
• Pixels (2015)
• Hitcher, The (2007)
• National Treasure (2004)

• Become a Critical Movie Critic
• Movie Review Archives

Movie Review: Flightplan (2005)

• General Disdain
• Movie Reviews
• No responses
• --> October 25, 2005

Let me start this review by saying that if my wife, whom I love dearly, didn’t want to watch this move, I wouldn’t have gone near it. I’ll be the first to admit Jodie Foster is a top-tier actress, but that fact didn’t outweigh the notion that Flightplan is a hokey piece of shit.

First, Flightplan starts off very, very slowly. Robert Schwentke (director) tries to build up relationships and character insights during this period, but it is done in a lazy manner. I don’t think I learned anything for the 40 minutes dedicated to this, other than Jodie Foster’s husband fell off a roof and she is moving to NY with her child to escape. A lot of time spent about nothing.

What was good, as expected, was the performance Jodie Foster puts forth. She is undoubtedly worth her price tag as an actress. She portrays a distraught woman (death of husband, loss of job, missing child) very realistically. My wife basically made it known that she would have behaved in a similar fashion. Which means like a crazy person!

What was bad, as expected, was the plot. How on earth didn’t anyone on a crowded plane not see a little girl? Not even the flight attendants? How is it possible to steal away an eight year old girl without anyone hearing or seeing? On a fucking plane no less! Lastly, I hope to God that Homeland Security has better flight marshals on board international flights than what was presented here. This guy makes every bonehead move in the book.

What you get here is a semi-thrilling movie that, although based in a reality setting, expects the viewer to suspend common sense to make the movie work. Bullshit. Wasted is a top notch performance by Jodie Foster.

Tagged: airplane , daughter , search

I'm an old, miserable fart set in his ways. Some of the things that bring a smile to my face are (in no particular order): Teenage back acne, the rain on my face, long walks on the beach and redneck women named Francis. Oh yeah, I like to watch and criticize movies.

Movie Review: Ghosted (2023) Movie Review: Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) Movie Review: Fantasy Island (2020) Movie Review: Snatched (2017) Movie Review: Horrible Bosses 2 (2014) Movie Review: ABCs of Death 2 (2014) Movie Review: Life After Beth (2014)

'Movie Review: Flightplan (2005)' has no comments

Privacy Policy | About Us

 |  Log in

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

• A bereaved woman and her daughter are flying home from Berlin to America. At 30,000 feet, the child vanishes, and nobody will admit she was ever on the plane.
• The husband of aviation engineer Kyle Pratt has just died in Berlin, and now she is flying back to New York with his coffin and their six-year-old daughter Julia. Three hours into the flight Kyle awakens to find that Julia is gone. It's a big double-decker plane, so the very concerned mother has a lot of territory to cover in order to find her daughter. She takes matters into her own hands as she fights to discern the truth. — Anthony Pereyra {[email protected]}
• Berlin-based David Pratt has just died from a fall off his apartment building's roof; it's unclear whether his death was accidental or a suicide. His wife, aircraft-propulsion engineer Kyle Pratt, and their 6-year-old daughter Julia Pratt are in emotional turmoil as they fly his body back from Berlin to New York for the burial. Aboard the Alto Airlines jumbo-jet flight, Julia goes missing while Kyle naps. Julia has a tendency to wander off so at first Kyle thinks this is just another instance and she'll be found easily, but she is proven wrong, and nobody remember ever seeing young Julia Pratt on board, including the flight attendants. As they look for her, the entire flight crew and Kyle learn that there is no record of her ever having been on board - no boarding pass, no name on the official manifest, and no extra person on the official head count conducted by the flight attendant prior to the supposed disappearance. Further information from Berlin comes to light: that Julia could never have been on board. Kyle is certain that someone on board has taken her and that someone with the airline who could alter official flight records is also involved in her disappearance. Kyle's increasing rantings put her at direct odds with the inconvenienced passengers, the flight attendants (who previously admitted that they have their favorite and not-so-favorite passengers, and now Kyle is in the latter category), and, most specifically, Captain Rich and Sky Marshal Carson, whose foremost goal is the safety of all passengers. With a detailed knowledge of aircraft design, Kyle believes she has an upper hand in finding Julia if only someone would believe her and let her search. Or is the trauma from David's death playing games with her mind so that she's searching for someone who no longer exists....or ever did? — Huggo
• A grieving mother (Kyle) and daughter (Julia) are flying in a plane she helped create, from Berlin to New York with the daughter's very recently-deceased father in a casket below deck. Kyle awakens from a nap and Julia has vanished. The passengers and flight crew don't recall her boarding the plane. Will Kyle find her daughter or will she start to accept the truth? — pinkustink12
• Kyle has just gone through the trauma of losing her husband who jumped off the roof of their apartment building in Berlin. Now she and her 6-year-old daughter Julia are flying his casket back to the United States on a plane she helped design. About 3 hours into the flight, Kyle wakes up from a nap to find Julia missing, and no one remembers ever seeing her. The flight crew begin to search the plane until the Captain comes back with information that when her husband jumped, he took Julia with him. As Kyle fights to discern the truth, she takes matters into her own hands. — The M Continuum
• Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is a propulsion engineer based in Berlin, Germany. Her husband David (John Benjamin Hickey) died from falling off the roof of an avionic manufacturing building, and now Kyle and her 6-year-old daughter Julia (Marlene Lawston) are going back to NY. They fly aboard an Elgin 474 plane, which Kyle helped design (loosely based on the Airbus A380 with the aircraft's classification number being similar to the Boeing 747) operated by Aalto Airlines. After falling asleep for a few hours, Kyle wakes to find that Julia is missing. After trying to remain calm at first, she begins to panic, and Captain Marcus Rich (Sean Bean) is forced to conduct a search, while sky marshal Gene Carson (Peter Sarsgaard) monitors her. Julia's boarding pass is missing, her seat is registered empty, Flight attendant Stephanie (Kate Beahan) tells Kyle that the boarding gate has no record of her boarding, & none of the passengers remember seeing Julia. Kyle accuses two Arab passengers of stalking her daughter the night before, resulting in a fight breaking out and Kyle being handcuffed. Marcus refuses cargo to be searched due to risk of injury. He suspects Kylie of insanity due to loss of her husband. One flight attendant Stephanie is exceptionally unsympathetic. Because of her increasingly erratic, panicked behavior, air marshal Gene Carson is ordered by Marcus to guard and handcuff her. Captain Rich receives a message from a Berlin hospital that Julia died with her father, and is convinced that Kyle, unhinged by her husband's and daughter's deaths, imagined bringing Julia on board. The increasingly erratic Kyle is confined to her seat, where a therapist, Lisa (Greta Scacchi), consoles her. Kyle doubts her own sanity until she notices the heart Julia drew in the condensation on the window next to her seat. Kyle asks to use the bathroom, where she climbs into the overhead crawl space and sabotages the aircraft's electronics. In the ensuing chaos, she rides a dumbwaiter to the lower freight deck and unlocks David's casket, suspecting Julia to be inside, but finds only her husband's body. Carson escorts her to her seat in handcuffs, and explains that the flight is making an emergency stopover at Goose Bay Airport, in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, where she will be taken into custody. Kyle makes a final plea to Carson that she needs to search the plane upon landing. Carson considers for a moment, then "goes to speak to the captain," against flight attendant Stephanie's command (they are landing), leaving the audience to momentarily believe he is sympathetic. Instead, he sneaks back into the freight deck to remove two small explosives and a detonator concealed in David's casket. He then climbs down to a part of the avionics section, revealing Julia is sleeping (presumably drugged) with her coat and backpack that no one could find. He attaches the explosives to the side of the platform and arms them. At this point, it is revealed that Carson, Stephanie, and the coroner in Berlin (Christian Berkel) are the antagonists and part of a conspiracy. Carson tells the captain that Kyle is a hijacker and is threatening to blow up the aircraft with explosives hidden in the not X-Rayed casket unless the airline transfers $50,000,000 into a bank account. It is revealed that the conspirators killed Kyle's husband and abducted Julia in order to frame Kyle. They abducted Julia to cause Kyle to unlock the casket Carson tells an unnerved Stephanie that he intends to blow up the aircraft's avionics section, killing the unconscious Julia, and leave Kyle dead with the detonator in her hand. After making an emergency landing at Goose Bay Airport in Goose Bay, Labrador, the passengers exit the aircraft as the tarmac is surrounded by U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents. As the captain is leaving, Kyle runs to speak to him with Carson in tow. The captain demands she give up her charade, revealing Carson's deception. Quickly playing the role of hijacker, Kyle demands that Carson stay on board and the crew disembark. As soon as the plane's door closes, Kyle knocks Carson unconscious with a fire extinguisher, handcuffs him to a rail, and takes the detonator from his pocket. Stephanie comes out of hiding and Kyle screams "she's in avionics, isn't she?" Carson quickly regains consciousness and fires at Kyle with a concealed gun, sending her running. He chases after Kyle shooting, until she locks herself in the cockpit. He reveals his conspiracy to talk her out. She opens a hatch door to the upper level and throws out a binder to fool him. Carson hears the upstairs thud and leaves. Kyle exits and encounters a guilt-ridden Stephanie slapping her palm with a large flashlight. Kyle talks her down and punches her out. Stephanie panics and flees the plane, abandoning Carson who looks on. Kyle during this time searches avionics and finally finds the unconscious Julia. Kyle finds the unconscious Julia but Carson arrives, revealing that he murdered David in order to smuggle the explosives inside his casket and gagged and dumped Julia into the food bin, believing that neither the passengers nor the crew would care enough to notice. Kyle escapes with Julia into the aircraft's non-combustible hold as Carson shoots at her. She detonates the explosives, killing Carson and damaging the aircraft's landing gear, but she and Julia emerge unscathed as the crew realize she had been telling the truth all along. The next morning, in the passenger waiting section of the airport, Captain Rich apologizes to a seated Kyle holding Julia in her arms as Stephanie is led away by FBI agents for her crimes, while another agent informs them that the Berlin mortuary director has also been arrested, adding that they are tracking down another accomplice who erased Julia's record from the flight manifest. Kyle silently redeems herself by carrying Julia through the crowd of passengers who realize the truth. As one of the Arab passengers assists Kyle in loading her luggage onto a waiting van, Julia awakens and sleepily asks "Are we there yet?" as they drive away.

Contribute to this page

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More from this title

More to explore, recently viewed.

Cast & Crew

Jodie Foster

Peter Sarsgaard

Erika Christensen

Captain Rich

Kate Beahan

• Average 5.3
• Reviews 177

Information

© 2005 Touchstone

Copyright © 2024 Apple Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Internet Service Terms Apple TV & Privacy Cookie Policy Support