Flight Plan is a 2005 thriller starring Jodie Foster.
10 out of 10 stars. This is one of those films that will make you question what you saw. Was it real? Or was she imagining it? And the ending will stay with you long after the film ends. Beautifully crafted plot.
Kyle Pratt is a propulsion engineer working for an airplane manufacturer in Germany. It’s winter and icy. One day her husband David slips on the ice and falls off the roof of their building. So Kyle and their 6 year old daughter Julia must take his body home to the United States.
Julia is now terrified of falling and dying, so Kyle must carry her places. And because Kyle is carrying Julia onto the plane, no one sees her board the plane. Due to terrorist attacks on planes, Germany requires bodies in caskets be sealed electronically with a passcode and escorted by security to the plane. Only the wife, Kyle, is given that passcode and that becomes the key to the plot because a stewardess and air marshal killed her husband in order to smuggle a bomb onto the plane.
Midflight, the air marshal, Gene Carson, distracts Kyle and the stewardess kidnaps Julia. Between the two of them, they manage to make Kyle look like a psycho out to take down the plane. Imagine it from Kyle’s perspective–her child was abducted on this plane and she has a limited amount of time to find her daughter and the kidnapper before she disappears forever. So she is indeed running around the plane like a crazy person.
The pilot of the plane finally decides to land in the nearest airport. As the plane descends, Carson tell him she’s a hijacker with a bomb and they need to pay her or she’ll blow up the plane and everyone on it. The pilot believes Carson and reports the hijacking. The money is wired to Carson’s account. Of course, Carson tells Kyle something completely different and since he’s isolated her from everyone, basically under lock and key, she has no idea what’s going on. She thinks they’re landing to search the plane and find Julia.
Finally, as the pilot is leaving the plane, he speaks to her (against Carson’s orders) and she realizes what’s going on–Carson and the stewardess have ransomed the plane. So she orders Carson to stay on board and waits for everyone to deplane. Just as the pilot is leaving, she demands he take Carson’s weapon, so he does. Remember, this is the farce Carson created. The pilot leaves the two of them alone and Kyle immediately knocks Carson out and steals the remote for the bomb. Then she looks for Julia. When she finds her, she takes her to the safest place on the plane and detonates the bomb, killing Carson. The stewardess has already escaped. Don’t worry, she won’t get far.
After the plane explodes, Kyle walks away from the wreckage carrying Julia, much to the astonishment of the passengers who thought she didn’t exist. The FBI catch the stewardess before she gets away and ID the mortician who put the bomb in David’s coffin. Keep in mind, Carson and the stewardess were going to kill both Julia and Kyle. They’ve already killed David. That was their plan. Pretty coldblooded.
10 out of 10 stars. A great Mother’s Day flick. One mom against 455 passengers and 12 crew. Mom wins. A better title for this film would be Gaslighting on a Plane, but that would give away the plot. Watch it twice, then you can see exactly how they managed to keep Julia hidden during the search of the plane.
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