Flightplan (2005)

I haven't yet seen everything Jodie Foster has done but I respect her greatly for what I have seen (and I plan to see the rest). This is a respectful attempt at a kickass crisis-on-an-airjet thriller; think Executive Decision or Snakes or Die Hard on a plane, but Jodie Foster adds intelligence and a mama-bear-fighting-for-her-cub dimension. Foster does a fine job as a designer of the double-decker airliner (designed specifically for the movie's multiple camera angles as detailed in the making-of materials) where her daughter disappears and no one can vouch for seeing her on the plane. Foster is either a crazy woman running amok on an airliner or the victim of a complex conspiracy. Who is in on it? She won't give up and works her way through the puzzle. Sean Bean is good as the pilot but you begin wondering why Peter Sargaard, playing the air marshal, is so soft on her. I like movies that make characters question their grasp on reality and make observers take sides (usually the wrong one). I didn't see enough emotional transition on faces other than Foster's, however: Everyone else on the plane had pretty much one expression, and stuck to it. This could be due to the nascent sense of terror that the situation might engender. Yeah, that must be it. Four stars.