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Flightplan
R1 - America - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak and Graeme Tuckett (30th January 2006). |
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The Film
 TAXIING in only a few short weeks after Wes Craven‘s not-all-that-bad Red Eye (2005), which also made very heavy weather of the perils of sitting next to strangers on planes, Flighplan is a promising slice of sub-Hitchcock nonsense. Red Eye was let down by a third act that sacrificed all of its excellent set up for a daft series of car chases and climaxes that would not have looked out of place in Spy Kids (2001). Flight Plan does better, marginally, by having a conclusion so convoluted and baffling that I still, three days after seeing the damned thing, actually can’t work out exactly what the protagonists were trying to achieve. (No surprises there. I’ve seen The Usual Suspects (1995) dozens of times, and I still can’t decide whether it makes sense or not.) Reprising her Panic Room (2002) shtick, Jodie Foster stars as a very post-modern "woman-in-peril". Recently widowed ("He fell, he did not jump!") she is returning to America from Berlin with, apparently, her young daughter Julia (Marlene Lawston). Taking a well earned snooze once aboard, Foster awakes to find her daughter has vanished. Cue an increasingly hysterical sequence of searches and tantrums, before someone produces a passenger list that states that the daughter was never aboard. Bring on the cellos and buckle yourself in for a film that is one part thriller, and one part a Cronenburg-ish pastiche of the current Hollywood vogue for cheap mind games: Is Foster mad? Does the daughter even exist? Are those Arab’s in the front row up to no good? You think that’s air you’re breathing? (Sorry, wrong movie.) What works, and works well, is the blazing intensity that Foster brings to the party. It ain’t pretty, but it’s credible and very effective at vaulting over some of the more ludicrous contrivances of Flightplan’s credulity-straining script. Surrounded by a bunch of B-listers, (including a very subdued Sean Bean) Foster rips through her work and leaves her co-stars bruised and floundering in her wake. Likewise the setting and camerawork; Flightplan is a handsomely mounted and occasionally dazzling piece of film making... none of which adds up to a recommendation, but if you’re in the mood for a deft piece of hokum with delusions of intelligence, then you could actually do a lot worse.
Video
The film is presented in its original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 this anamorphic widescreen transfer is good, but could be a lot better. While colors are rendered beautifully especially skin tones I was a little disappointed with the image’s overall sharpness. I felt that that it’s a little on the soft side, which was a bit annoying. Black levels are generally deep an bold and shadow detail is nicely included, considering the entire film takes place in the darkness of the plane (although some scenes are a lot lighter depending on where in the plane the character is, as color schemes change throughout). I also noticed the occasional edge-enhancement which is always disappointing to see on any transfer, lucky for us it’s only minor and is not repeated often.
Audio
Four audio options are included on this release, The fist two of which are in English in DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1, the other two tracks are a French Dolby Digital 5.1 track and a Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with the English DTS track. This is a stunner of an audio track, dialogue is fresh and clear, no distortion here, the stand-out elements of this track are the environmental directional effects, it puts you right in a plane, close your eyes and you’d swear you where flying long haul. The music is also mixed incredibly well and makes ample use of all the 5.1 channels. Some action scenes utilize the bass track and occasionally there is some action activity in the front and back left and right speakers. Buena Vista have done a fine job here. Additionally the film also includes optional subtitles in English for the hard of hearing, French and Spanish.
Extras
First up we have a feature-length audio commentary by director Robert Schwentke, in this track the director discusses the development of the script, the casting of the film as well as various creative decisions that were made from the visual look of the film to the production design of the Aalto plane that makes up the main setting of the film. Schwentke seems to provide a lot of information pertaining to each of the sequences of the film and seems to always have something to say. It’s a good listen if you care to revisit the film. Next we have the In-Flight Movie: The Making of Flightplan this is a series of 5 featurettes that cover various aspects of the production, you can view them individually or by selecting the Play All function. The featurettes included are: - Security Checkpoint: Story of a Thriller which runs for 6 minutes 8 seconds, in this piece we learn the genesis of the screenplay, it was originally written pre-9/11 and with the lead character being a male. Obviously changes had to be made post-9/11 and the character was eventually changed to a woman. The filmmakers also discuss what the dramatic tones of this film are. - Captain Greeting: Meet the Director runs for 7 minutes 7 seconds, in this clip we are introduced to the film’s director and what his responsibilities on this film entail. There is a considerable amount of back patting in this clip telling us how cool this guy is. This appears to be a worrying trend with Buena Vista DVD’s recently, the cast and crew telling how awesome the director is is not very interesting at all. I’d much prefer the DVD producers focus on the actual making of the film. - Passenger Manifest: Casting the Film runs for 9 minutes 26 seconds, this clip focuses on - you guess it, the casting! Here the filmmakers tell us how important it was to find people that lend naturalistic performances, and also how Jodie Foster is also a really great person (I’m not going to repeat myself - see comments above about back patting). We also take a look of the casting of young Julia and the rest of the supporting cast. - Connecting Flights: Post Production runs for 8 minutes 17 seconds and is one of the more interesting clips on this disc, here we take a look at the editing process, the sound design and it’s importance to thriller films as well as the scoring process. - Emergency Landing: Visual Effects runs for 7 minutes 29 seconds, in this clip we learn about the different effects techniques used to bring the plane to life, considering it doesn’t exist in real life. The filmmaker’s utilized miniature models as well as CGI to give the miniature plane depth and sense of size. Next up we have the Cabin Pressure: Designing the Aalto E-474 featurette which runs for 10 minutes 1 second. In this clip we take a look at the production design of the film’s main location, the plane. The production designer takes us through the process of design form researching various planes, the building process of the set, the choice of colors for each of the different sections of the plane as well as creating rigs to fit cameras within the confined space of the plane’s hallways to achieve smooth tracking shots. Rounding out the film’s extras are a collection of bonus trailers that include: - Annapolis that runs for 2 minutes 30 seconds. - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe which runs for 1 minutes 35 seconds. - Proof which runs for 1 minute 52 seconds. - Stop Piracy promo spot which runs 47 seconds. - Shadows in the Sun and Everything you Want which runs 1 minute 1 second. - The Greatest Game Ever Played which runs for 2 minutes 32 seconds. - TV on DVD promo spot that runs for 1 minute 56 seconds. - Lost: Season 2 promo spot that runs for 31 seconds.
Overall
Flightplan is a serviceable thriller that takes itself a little too seriously, yet is a good way to keep entertained for a little while. Buena Vista Home Entertainment has given this film an ok transfer that could use some improvement and a stunning DTS track that is totally immersive, the extras included aren’t high caliber, however the commentary is worth a listen.
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