Perhaps the high altitude explains why, after Red Eye, this is yet another ludicrously plotted 2005 airplane thriller. Just thinking about that thin air must mess with screenwriters’ heads. Flightplan – with Jodie Foster as a grieving widow whose daughter may or may not have been kidnapped mid-flight – is the far better picture because it is much more artful at stringing the audience along. Anchored by the always intense Foster, the movie plays on more authentic fears, and wisely delays its most preposterous moments until the final 15 minutes. We’re still ripped off by ridiculousness at the end, but this time I didn’t mind so much.
