MovieChat Forums > Flightplan (2005) Discussion > 7 Things That RUINED this Horrible Film

7 Things That RUINED this Horrible Film

posted 7 months ago by JasonMovieGuy88 (51)
2 replies | jump to latest

SPOILERS——

This is one of the most confusing films I’ve seen since Memento (R, 2001).

1. Jodie Foster claims she can’t find her daughter’s boarding pass. But what about the actual reservation number? Wouldn’t the airline have that in their computer system?? Or what about an online reservation ? Surely when they booked the ticket online, Jodie could have pulled out her phone and showed the boarding pass. I mean, I fly United all the time and have my information in my apple wallet.

2. A missing child is a big deal for airlines. Especially post September 11th. The crew seemed mundane and unsympathetic to Kyle’s situation.

3. This plane was WAY to large for a trip from Germany to New York. When I travel from Minneapolis to Las Vegas, it’s one small strip to get to your seat. Even first class is just 8 rows. There is no fancy cocktail lounge or stairs to go to another level. So that was false as well.

4. Foster character tells the captain she’s on Klonopin and that “my daughter’s teddy bear! She brought it with her on the plane. That should prove she was with me.” What a fool! All she needed to do was pull up her online reservation. They had the internet in 2005 and people booked travel all the time on their computers.

5. Why wasn’t Kyle in first class? Considering she helped construct the aircraft she was on I was shocked she was sitting in economy.

6. Once the captain informs Kyle that her daughter is dead, Helen and I got up and walked out of the Theater. It was apparent at that moment that her husband’s casket in the luggage department of the carrier - was in fact her dead little girl. “Denial”, is what Helen told me was the point. “People don’t want to accept death of loved ones.”

It made sense now. The twist was that Foster was grieving the loss of her child. No wonder the crew couldn’t find any evidence of her onboard. She never had a husband. “He fell…” she kept whispering to passengers. But now it’s obvious it was the girl who fell. How she did- we will never know. It was interesting the plot twist was revealed barely an hour into the movie.

7. When Kyle causes the oxygen masks to fall and turns off the lights in the cabin of the aircraft, it was clear she was having a mental breakdown. Dealing with the death of her daughter, and not wanting to talk to the therapist sitting next to her - what other choice did she have? “She’s an engineer after all”, said Helen. “She knows all about mathematical logistics that normal
Folks like us don’t know.” We both laughed out loud at Helen’s witty assessment - and by now we were being audibly hushed by angry moviegoers in the Theater.

“Could you please stop TALKING? My husband and I paid good money for these seats!”

“Let me tell you something sweetie - your husband ain’t gonna be alive one day. Then you’ll be LAUGHING too!” Helen quipped, causing the rude couple to frown at us like we were bonkers.

By now security had been called, and we were told to leave. But we didn’t care . This storyline was really confusing and had it not been for the clever twist it would have been even worse. Jodie Foster’s career really took a nose dive after the mid 90s and never recovered. Seems once you win Oscar’s your career sort of crash lands - just like the flight she was on. “Alls well that Dies well haha!” Helen screamed to the audience as we proceeded to the exits.

Final Grade: C

[–] Patman111196 (1265) 5 months ago

I agree. The movie in itself is fairly entertaining, but I thought it took a nosedive when it became generic and cliched in the last half hour.

1. The movie seems to imply that Stephanie, the corrupt stewardess, either deleted or made sure the info never got through the system, though I don't know how that works or if that's even possible. This was also before smartphones became daily life, so I wonder if the flip phone at the time had that kind of thing. But it still seems ridiculous not to have another piece of information on her.

2. I agree. That one guy that dragged that lady (who seemed to be doing her job at first) into that attic above the bathroom to "have some fun", and that one who said "It's ok to hate the passengers" before the situation even happened. The crew seemed really disrespectful at times, even for no reason. It's to be expected that the crew will have a hard time believing her, but they seemed more interested in fooling around that respecting their careers.
At least the captain was wiling to give her the benefit of the doubt even though he didn't believe her.

3. It was a brand new and special plane that held up to 400-500 passengers, but I do agree that bars and such aren't typical of even large planes, even it would be small if they were. Also they made the plane with FAR too much space and some of the other designs were nonsense.

4. Like I said before, it's a question of whether she or the crew could access it while well up in the air, and if it's connected to the manifest is something I am not sure of. What she could have done is beg the captain to check the security camera footage at the airport, which certainly would have proved her claims, but there would be no movie if that happened, so it's complete fantasy.

5. Funny you should mention that, because you are correct. First of all, the filmmakers mixed up their dictionary by making her a propulsion engineer, who works on the OUTSIDE of the plane with the engines. She shouldn't know the insides of the plane, and even if she did, there should have been strict protocol for her boarding on a plane that she had a hand in designing. She seemed rich enough anyway to get a seat in more than Economy.

So did you actually finish the film though? Cause if not, it gets even worse and outright cliche with Hollywood.

[–] RustyShacklefurd (2026) 4 months ago

Point #6 is actually completely wrong. The daughter was still alive. She really did have a husband who just died. We know it was really her husband's body in the casket because the movie shows her opening it up on the plane.