Flight Plan

Foster panics better than most actresses.

Herald rating: * * *

Flight Plan takes off encouragingly with Hitchcockian suspense, a solid cast, an intriguing story and, most excitingly, Sean Bean in a pilot's uniform. But what starts out promising to be a classy thriller takes a turn about two-thirds through the film when you begin to wonder if they fired the original writer for being too clever, and brought in a lesser replacement to provide the predictable action-packed ending.

Jodi Foster - the thinking man's woman - is back on the big screen after a three-year hiatus, and just so she doesn't have to stretch herself too much, plays a similar character, Kyle Pratt, to her last role in Panic Room.

We meet Pratt in Berlin. A grieving widow and mother of 6-year-old Julia, Pratt is getting ready to transport her husband's body back home to the United States. Once on the plane, Pratt falls asleep. When she wakes, there is no sign of Julia and, worse still, no one believes her daughter boarded the flight with her.

Pratt convinces Captain Rich (Bean) to search the plane, but soon we begin to wonder, along with the frustrated passengers and on-board air marshal, whether she is just losing her mind.

Seeing Jodi panic is better than seeing most actresses panic, but the sad thing is that she has so much more to offer.

As the one dimensional stressed-out routine grows tired, you start getting concerned about the wrinkles her constant frown must be causing rather than whether her daughter could have climbed into the cargo hold of a plane.

The problem is not only that Flight Plan feels like two different films stuck together, but the premise seems to go on and on, teasing you with the idea that a complex and mysterious story will unfold. You begin to realise that all the possibilities running through your head aren't going to happen, and you can't help but feel disappointed - and that Foster is a little cheated.CAST: Jodie Foster, Sean Bean, Peter Sarsgaard
DIRECTOR: Robert Schwentke
RUNNING TIME: 99 minutes
RATING: M - contains medium level violence
SCREENING: Village and Hoyts cinemas