Jodie Foster is simply an amazing actor. She has a huge dynamic range of emotion, and is one of the few actors that can convey a thousand words with just a look.

Flightplan is an exceptionally well crafted movie. It begins slowly, and gradually builds to a quick climax. The movie constantly keeps you wondering who the kidnapper is, and reveals nothing until the climax unfolds. It is relentlessly suspenseful, keeping you at the edge of your seat for the full 98 minutes of the movie. In Hollywood, this is called a "slow burner". Few directors can do this kind of film well, and even fewer can do it without revealing the plot before the end.

After an accidental fall that killed her husband, Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) and her six-year old daughter Julia accompany the body from Berlin to New York. Traveling on an ultra-modern new airplane that Kyle helped design, they prepare themselves to return home when suddenly the child vanishes during the flight during Kyle’s nap. Desperately she tries to find her missing child but there is not a trace. After a fruitless search of the passenger cabin, Kyle suggests searching the holds and storage closets but the Captain (Sean Bean) refuses as there are no records of the little girl ever having been onboard. She's not on the passenger manifest, no boarding pass has been issued and no one has seen her come aboard. In fact, records indicate that Julia died with her father. But despite all attempts to convince her that she's suffering from post traumatic stress, Kyle is desperately determined to find her daughter, trying to find out what exactly is going on.
The head stewardess (Erika Christensen) and the airplane air Marshall (Peter Sarsgaard) both work with, and against Kyle in her search for her daughter, and convincing her that she never boarded.

The Picture:

Buena Vista Home Entertainment delivers a wonderful DVD for this film, featuring an anamorphic widescreen transfer in the movie's original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The transfer is exceptionally clear without a hint of grain and entirely free of picture blemishes. An incredibly high level of detail marks the presentation, and the well saturated color reproduction further adds to the spectacular look of this release. Blacks are deep and the good contrast makes sure the image is firmly rooted and also offers up clean highlights that never bloom. Skin tones are naturally rendered at all times, and the rich bluish tones of the airplane's interiors and displays are very well rendered. No edge-enhancement is evident in the transfer and the compression is also flawless. In short, this is a reference transfer that convinces on all fronts.

The Sound:

This release features a 448kbps Dolby digital soundtrack, and a 754kbps Dts soundtrack. It also includes English and Spanish tracks as well. The soundtrack is very effective in conveying the action on screen and is never over the top or distracting. The LFE is used effectively to punctuate the action on screen and the front left, center and right also carry quite a bit of bass information, though not nearly as much as other movie soundtracks I have listened to. The surrounds are used effectively in both a direct and ambient manner, but never sounding forced or gratuitous to the mix. The bustling of turbulence is especially effective in all channels to give air to what could be a pretty claustrophobic atmosphere.
I listened to both soundtracks, giving the Dts soundtrack a slight edge for its ability to project low level detail, and wider soundstage from front to back, and is harmonically better for the film score.

The extras on this DVD are pretty interesting. Starting with a commentary track featuring director Robert Schwentke. The director is very candid in this commentary discussing in detail many of his decisions as well as the production aspects. I found his comments very helpful in understanding the difficulty of this production.

A five-part documentary about the making of the film is also included, covering various aspects, including the story, the director, the cast, post-production and the movie's visual effects. It is a well-crafted documentary that gives a good overall look at the production of the film.

Another featurette on the disc discusses the design of the aircraft used in the film. Although in reality this plane does not exist, if it did, they show how true to airplane construction they stayed in order to craft this oversized airplane for the movie. They also discussed how to turn a plane this size into a flexible structure for filming as well.

This film is a keeper for any film collector, and a must rent for those who do not buy. It is a great film from the beginning to the end.