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Flightplan
Buena Vista Pictures


5.3

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 67 votes
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FILM:

Tattoo

MPAA 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)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Peter A. Dowling Billy Ray
DIRECTED BY:	Robert Schwentke
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 24, 2006 Theatrical: September 23, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	93 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

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...

100

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A tense, concise and elegantly shot film.

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.

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.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Far-fetched but deliciously exciting aerial nail-biter.

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.

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."

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Doesn't have its heroine's conviction. It'd be better if it had.

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.

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.

LA Weekly John Patterson

Schwentke handles the claustrophobic environment efficiently enough, though he dallies too long before letting anxiety give way to action.

Village Voice Mark Holcomb

Becomes more satisfying than the stock thriller–star vehicle it begins and ends as.

Empire Ian Freer

An enthralling, enjoyable if ultimately far-fetched thriller.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

There is something really nasty about this cold, calculating exercise in mob psychology and human venality.

USA Today Claudia Puig

This B-list thriller portrays air crews as inept, at best, and callous and cruel at worst.

Variety Robert Koehler

Largely undone by a script that self-destructs in the third act of an otherwise well-made thriller.

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.

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.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

The movie loses some of its initial atmospheric tension as paranoid thrills give way to Rambo high jinks.

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.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The latest motion picture to take an intriguing premise and flush it into the septic tank.

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.

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.

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.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Flightplan should have remained grounded for repairs.

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.

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.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Absurdity has a new name: Flightplan.

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.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.3 (out of 10) based on 67 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?

Flightplan Buena Vista Pictures

Flightplan
Buena Vista Pictures