Flightplan is a thriller about every parent’s worst nightmare: losing their children. The first US film by German director Robert Schwentke (“The Captain”, “RED”) unmistakably recycles set pieces from Hitchcock classics such as “A Lady Disappears”, but also “Vertigo” or “The Window to the Court”.
So “Flightplan” is far from being the most original film of all time. In terms of staging, too, despite some beautiful visual ideas and gimmicks, he can never quite keep up with the masterpieces of what is undoubtedly the greatest and most influential genre director of all time. Thanks to its amazingly paranoid-claustrophobic atmosphere and the intense performance by Jodie Foster (“The Silence of the Lambs”), which was expressly praised in our DashFUN review, it is definitely worth seeing.
“Flightplan – Without any trace” runs on September 14, 2022 at 8:15 p.m. on Kabel 1. There will be a repeat the same night, i.e. on September 15 at 2.35 a.m. If these dates do not suit you in terms of time or you would rather enjoy the work without commercial breaks, there are of course other options. Here’s how you can stream Flightplan anytime as part of your Disney+ subscription:
» “Flightplan – Without a trace” at Disney+*
Or you can simply order the thriller as a Blu-ray/DVD:
» “Flightplan – Without a Trace” as Blu-ray/DVD at Amazon*
Screenwriter Peter A. Dowling (“Black And Blue”) wrote the lead role for a man in the original version of the project in 1999. Incidentally, the missing child was initially supposed to be a boy. Sean Penn has already agreed to play the father. Only when top producer Brian Grazer (“Apollo 13”) got involved and explicitly wanted Foster to be cast for the character was the gender changed. However, her (actually male) name Kyle remained.
Thankfully, another important script detail changed with the addition of a second author (Billy Ray, “Captain Phillips”): an attack by Islamist terrorists was deleted without replacement. The post-9/11 paranoia in relation to civil aviation traffic, which was at its peak during the production period in 2004, is now much less flat in the finished film and thus integrated far better to match the general mood.
Touchstone Pictures
Shines with a tour de force performance: Oscar winner Jodie Foster
Also worth mentioning about “Flightplan” is the score by James Horner. Of the “Titanic’ and ‘Apocalypto’ composer gave his orchestrated music a particularly emotional texture. The film begins calmly, relatively coldly and matter-of-factly, which of course is reflected in the soundtrack. But even here, Horner built unusual instruments into the arrangements for Hollywood soundtracks. Their sound deliberately approached that of the sound effects later used in the suspense and action sequences.
In addition, Horner occasionally added synthesizer sounds. However, he primarily used analogue, percussive instruments such as metallophones and prepared pianos, which he had the musicians maltreat with drumsticks or ordinary forks (!). Within all the pieces, there are always astonishing points of contrast to the more classically recorded basic parts, including strings, clarinet and regular piano. In this way, the nervous, emotional roller coaster ride of the main character is not only underscored, but also made tangible and tangible for the audience in many moments.
» The soundtrack: “Flightplan” by James Horner on Amazon*
Berlin-based aeronautical engineer Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) just lost her husband. Now she wants to transport his body to the United States. She is accompanied by her six-year-old daughter Julia (Marlene Lawston), who has almost completely withdrawn from the outside world since the death of her beloved father.
After the start, the mother/child duo, exhausted not only physically but also emotionally, quickly fell asleep in their seats. When Kyle wakes up after a while, she finds that the little one has disappeared. When a spontaneous search of the areas accessible to passengers is unsuccessful, she begins to panic.
The flight crew and some passengers try to help, but are quickly suspected by the worried mother and accused of a big conspiracy. The Air Marshall Carson (Peter Sarsgaard) on board, the flight attendants (including Kate Beahan, Matt Bomer, Erika Christensen) and the called pilot (Sean Bean) have their hands full trying to calm them down somehow.
But Kyle becomes more and more aggressive in her desperation, while everyone around her increasingly thinks she’s crazy – especially because there seems to be no record at Berlin Airport, which was communicated by radio, that a Julia Pratt could have been on the plane at all. And nobody noticed the girl inside the machine either…
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