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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 335518" data-attributes="member: 23">Flightplan (2005) <img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.impawards.com%2F2005%2Fposters%2Fflightplan_xlg.jpg&f=1&nofb=1" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 575px" />I couldn’t swear that this is my first time with this film. It looked vaguely familiar, but I thought I might be mixing it up with the similarly-themed Red Eye, released at the same time and which I know I saw at the cinema. As Flightplan got underway I didn’t remember a thing and so became convinced that I could have seen it before. Then came Greta Scaachi’s scene as the therapist and I knew I’d previously seen it in context (again, I’d retconned this into Red Eye in my collective memory). And yet I remembered nothing apart from this scene - not even the ending.Looking at information on the film, it seems Flightplan was critically panned. I’m glad I don’t place much stock in these things and wouldn’t seek out a review ahead of time. I like to decide for myself whether or not a film works for me (indeed, this is one of those films where the less you know going in, the more caught up you can be in the turns) and, taken on its on merits, I thought this one was a decent enough film.Robert Schwentke’s direction impressed me. It’s quite Hitchcockian in that it’s quite creatively showy and draws attention to itself at times. Too often when directors do this it falls flat and comes across as gimmicky or trying too hard, but in this film it’s done with confidence and flair and Schwentke’s choices enhance the film.It goes without saying that Jodie Foster is a terrific actress and she’s another reason this feels significantly elevated from the standard thriller fare this appears to be on the surface. With its themes of bereavement and loss, and her character’s sanity in question at times it’s certainly a meaty enough role and her wonderful work in this film alone makes it worth watching. She’s surrounded by good actors who all play their roles perfectly, knowing when to underplay and when to hide things from the audience, which made the surprises more satisfying.There’s an atmosphere of tension that runs all the way through this film. Like the symbolic ugly grey aeroplane on which we spend much time, the film feels alive, groaning and creaking under its own weight, with dark hidden cavities that hide the unknown (yikes. I wasn’t expecting to write an entire paragraph of purple prose. The film must have inspired me to pull it from one of my own dark hidden cavities).Something Flightplan does very well is create a very subjective view for the audience. It’s a film where the lines between reality and fantasy aren’t clear, which makes us frequently question and doubt what we see. And the leading character isn’t excluded from our doubts. When something is revealed midway through the film that tells us Kyle’s reality isn’t as she thought it was, it hits hard because I’d walked in her shoes and believed her. I felt almost as devastated as she did because in the light of this concrete proof it all seems so obvious and I felt almost foolish for buying in to a fantasy. And even that wasn’t the end.This is a film that shifts both genres and themes as it shifts gears. Based on the poster alone I went in expecting a Hollywood thriller. It was a little surprising to find that it began as a European arthouse film where widows sit on empty Berlin U-Bahn platforms watching trains go about their business while conversing with their dead husbands. Then it’s a kind of road trip/rite of passage film about a mother and daughter’s new start. By the time it’s evolved into a thriller, it’s one so deeply entrenched in psychology I couldn’t help feeling invested. Later in the film it became a film about grief, denial and letting go. And essentially about one person’s nervous breakdown seen from a subjective viewpoint. Once this clicks with us, it’s a bit of a shock but almost a relief as well. But this is just the start and, as the climax approaches, it becomes a film about the wrong person in the frame, finding themselves in a position from which it seems there’s no way out.If the film was a letdown on any front it’s the climax. So much thought had gone into every aspect of the film, right down to Kyle’s job as an aviation engineer who knows her way around every part of an aircraft. I believed everything right up until the last minute. The wrap-up felt too sudden and too complete and in light of what had happened immediately beforehand I believe[ISPOILER] the authorities would shoot first and ask questions later, no matter what. [/ISPOILER]What actually happened felt too simplistic.Still, it was a much better film than I’d anticipated. I’m glad I saw this one before it dropped off Prime.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?