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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 53 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
13 OK for kids 13+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    A tense, concise and elegantly shot film. Read full review

  • 88
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    The movie's excellence comes from Foster's performance as a resourceful and brave woman; from Bean, Sarsgaard and the members of the cabin crew, all with varying degrees of doubt; from the screenplay by Peter A. Dowling and Billy Ray; and from the direction by Robert Schwentke. Read full review

  • 70
    Washington Post | Ann Hornaday

    Until those final moments, Flightplan succeeds admirably, both as a sophisticated psychological thriller and as an example of, if not great art, then superb craftsmanship. Read full review

  • 63
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    Doesn't have its heroine's conviction. It'd be better if it had. Read full review

  • 58
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Since Foster plays warming-up-for-a-straitjacket panic with a clenched intensity rare to behold in a Hollywood actress, I, for one, was rooting for the radical -- that is, nuthouse -- option. Read full review

  • 50
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    There is something really nasty about this cold, calculating exercise in mob psychology and human venality. Read full review

  • 50
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    To watch Ms. Foster storm through a phony airplane for an entire movie has its very minor pleasures - given the numerous close-ups, you can study her lovely face at your leisure - but there is nothing here to feed the head or fray the nerves. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    This B-list thriller portrays air crews as inept, at best, and callous and cruel at worst. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Robert Koehler

    Largely undone by a script that self-destructs in the third act of an otherwise well-made thriller. Read full review

  • 50
    Los Angeles Times | Carina Chocano

    The movie loses some of its initial atmospheric tension as paranoid thrills give way to Rambo high jinks. Read full review

View more reviews for Flightplan on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 13+ Tense but riveting thriller, best for teens+.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that the film's premise is a missing child, a timely topic but also potentially disturbing for younger viewers. The film focuses on the mother's panic when her 6-year-old daughter disappears midflight on an airbus, which offers up plenty of high-techy, brightly-lit space to be searched. The mother displays tears, fear, and rage at the crew, who question her sanity. There is an apparent suicide (the film includes discussion of a fall off a rooftop, and some flashbacks/dreams of the victim's last night alive). The movie also features some violence, as the mother fights crew members and an air marshal, as well as threats of a hijacking and a bomb on the plane. Most important, parents should know that the tension is frequently very taut; be aware of what your child might tolerate and understand.
  • Families can talk about the portrayal of Kyle's evolving distress: how is she sympathetic in her fear and anger? How does her briefly sketched relationship with her daughter Julia help to establish this sympathy, even when everyone else on the plane thinks she's lost her mind? And how does the film use racial profiling of "Arab" passengers (in Kyle and other passengers' accusations)? Is this reasonable or unreasonable under these circumstances?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Villains are tricky, authorities (the captain and flight attendants) are slow to pick up on villainy, and mother is admirably resolute throughout.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: A father's suicide referenced at start; action picks up later including physical fights and a bomb ticking.
  • sex false0 Sex: Brief flirtation between flight attendants.
  • language false2 Language: Tense arguments. A few uses of "s--t" as well as "hell" and "Goddamn."
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Some drinks discussed by flight attendants.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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