Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
xx
Fantastic Mr. Fox
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
66
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Flightplan
EMAILPRINTBuena Vista Pictures

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 33 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 68 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Peter A. Dowling
Billy Ray
Directed by: Robert Schwentke
Release Date:
Theatrical: September 23, 2005
DVD: January 24, 2006
Running Time: 93 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for violence and some intense plot material
Starring Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Sean Bean, Marlene Lawston, and Erika Christensen
Flying at 40,000 feet in a cavernous, state-of-art 474 aircraft, Kyle Pratt (Foster) faces every mothers' worst nightmare when her six year-old daughter vanishes without a trace mid-flight from Berlin to New York. (Touchstone Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Tattoo
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
For at least two-thirds of its length, all elements combine for a taut thriller, a Hitchcockian exercise in suspense pitting human frailty - can our minds be trusted? - against human resourcefulness.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie's excellence comes from Foster's performance as a resourceful and brave woman; from Bean, Sarsgaard and the members of the cabin crew, all with varying degrees of doubt; from the screenplay by Peter A. Dowling and Billy Ray; and from the direction by Robert Schwentke.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Far-fetched but deliciously exciting aerial nail-biter.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Until those final moments, Flightplan succeeds admirably, both as a sophisticated psychological thriller and as an example of, if not great art, then superb craftsmanship.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
Has a routine finish but up to that point is a more than decent thriller--or, given its taut self-containment, a more than decent Hitchcockian "exercise in suspense."
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Doesn't have its heroine's conviction. It'd be better if it had.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Jodie Foster's fiercely intelligent performance drives this disappointing thriller, whose taut, carefully constructed first half is sadly negated by its implausible and -- worst of all -- unengaging conclusion.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
This thriller is effective if you can accept that--as with some of John Dickson Carr's locked-room mysteries--the trickiness counts more than any plausibility.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly John Patterson
Schwentke handles the claustrophobic environment efficiently enough, though he dallies too long before letting anxiety give way to action.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Mark Holcomb
Becomes more satisfying than the stock thriller–star vehicle it begins and ends as.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Since Foster plays warming-up-for-a-straitjacket panic with a clenched intensity rare to behold in a Hollywood actress, I, for one, was rooting for the radical -- that is, nuthouse -- option.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
A thriller that goes from pretty good to absolutely ludicrous in the time it takes one actor to recite about four sentences of dialogue.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
By the final act, involving possibly the most far-fetched scheme since Dr. Evil aimed his death ray at Earth in "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," the indifference has become completely contagious.
Read Full Review >Premiere Peter Debruge
I'd like to say that Flightplan is one of those white-knuckle, edge-of-your-seat thrill rides that critics are always raving about, but instead, it's more like a transatlantic flight with no clear destination, where the cabin noise makes it impossible to sleep and the in-flight movie is a rerun.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
As it is, Flightplan is half of a pretty good movie. But to maintain that impression, I recommend you take a nap for the last 40 minutes.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
There is something really nasty about this cold, calculating exercise in mob psychology and human venality.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
This B-list thriller portrays air crews as inept, at best, and callous and cruel at worst.
Read Full Review >Variety Robert Koehler
Largely undone by a script that self-destructs in the third act of an otherwise well-made thriller.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
The plot is contingent on everything going perfectly in ways no one can possibly predict, right down to the most outlandish happenstance of timing and human behavior.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
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.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
The movie loses some of its initial atmospheric tension as paranoid thrills give way to Rambo high jinks.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Despite excellent elements - great actress, taut plot, slick visuals - Flightplan is like airplane food. No matter how good the ingredients the air chef has to work with, the entree inevitably ends up tasting like a Xerox of a facsimile of a meal.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The latest motion picture to take an intriguing premise and flush it into the septic tank.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
But coming on the heels of "Red Eye," which is nothing if not an efficient thrill machine, Flightplan can only look conspicuously flat by comparison.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
A thriller of passive virtues, the steely intensity of Jodie Foster notwithstanding. It's not too violent. It's not assaultive. Even James Horner's music plays it cool.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Sean Bean makes a positive impression as the caring but puzzled captain of the flight, though Peter Sarsgaard flies at half-mast as a clumsy air marshal.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Flightplan should have remained grounded for repairs.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
An exercise in edgy tedium, and even though it's only 90 minutes or so, it seems to last longer than an actual transatlantic flight. If you bring an eye mask and a few sleeping pills, you should get through it OK. A magazine or book wouldn't hurt, either. It'll be over before you know it.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky
As the movie enters its final chapter, you will come to the sad, sickening realization that the filmmakers have played you for a chump. What seemed so smart, so well crafted and finely tuned, falls apart into a flaming heap of c---, and all goodwill is dashed.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
This movie demands that the viewer -- and even its own characters -- turn into thumb-sucking 3-year-olds with no need for plausibility or logic, as long as there are lots of flashing lights and whooshing noises emanating from the screen.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.3 (out of 10) based on 68 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Nick A. gave it a5:
Why oh why did Jodie Foster sign up for this! What starts out as an interesting and believable thriller slides into complete mediocrity with one gaping plot hole after another. The most annoying aspect was as a viewer thinking of about 10 different ways in which this film could have been so much better. Miss Foster as usual is still good especially in the first half of the movie but even she has a hard time trying to seem convincing towards the end when she must have prayed there was a get out clause in her contract. The one thing that continually irritates the hell out of me is this type of lazy film making where by its as if someone said we've forgotten how to end it and someone comes up with a halfbaked idea in about 2 minutes! I'm a big fan of Jodie Foster and I hope she steers away from such mediocre movies in the future.
Apocalypse Brown gave it a0:
Enter a contestant for the Hollywood hall of Turkeys. Totally abject and brainless, what a waste of time and money. AVOID!
Amurabi M. gave it a5:
A star vehicle that works forced and simple. Robert Schwentke´s movie, is a blast for an entire hour but in the last part all becomes absurdist and implausible. Jodie Foster as a newborn Ripley naaahh. All looks like some ATM, and no more.
Georgie C. gave it a5:
The plot was not believable. [***SPOILERS***] When Jodie Foster starts freaking out about her missing daughter and all the people around her doubt she even has a daughter, much less one who boarded the plane, the plot fell apart. Why didn't the character played by Jodie Foster suggest that someone contact the grandparents, with whom she and her little girl planned to live once they arrived in the U.S.? Were there no school, doctor or other records that could prove the daughter's existence? The captain could have initiated an inquiry to ascertain that, at the very least, there WAS a daughter. Did the Jodie Foster character have no friends that could be contacted to verify that Foster had booked a flight back to the states with her little girl? How was the flight booked? If by a travel agent, couldn't that person or firm confirm a booking for the little girl? If by a website, wouldn't there be a record of the number of tickets purchased by the Jodie Foster character in the website's database? I'm sorry, but if a plot is not believable, I stop caring. Other posters here have described other plot holes, but these very early ones pushed me out of this movie very early on. Scriptwriters should plug plot holes and not assume the audience is stupid. A plot that is implausible throws me right out of the movie. Too bad. Some good acting talent on view, and the direction and editing were good in my opinion. But the plot - the story - is central for me. If it fails, the movie fails.
Barry P. gave it a3:
The "payoff" to this thriller is simply not believable. The plot holes are big enough to drive an SUV through, and the supporting cast is entirely wasted in this movie. Even Foster's performance is only mediocre. A huge disappointment.
Justin C. gave it a3:
Has anyone ever noticed The Baltimore Sun never has any idea what they're talking about with every movie they review? At any rate, this film has so many loose ends I began shopping for end tables. At least 30% of the movie doesn't make sense by the end and in an attempt to be a thriller it assumes the general public will just forget that it decides not to tie pieces together. I'm disappointed that Foster makes absolutely no judgment calls with scripts anymore. She might be middle-aged but have some pride girl!
Matt L. gave it a3:
This movie was ruined by the lame ending. It was a good plan with the U.S. Flight Marshall hi-jacking the plane, but to have him get out smarted like that. Not much to say about it... It was a pretty lame movie, but had the potential to be a big hit. did the director watch the movie before releasing it? Why didn't they change such a stupid ending?
