FLIGHT PLAN

Starting with a bit of gloomy Euro-mood as the camera jumps about in non-linear fashion through subways, morgues and snowy courtyards, Robert Schwentke's thriller teases that it might have more style than a rote outing. After the prologue we board a big double-decker trans-Atlantic airliner with the emotionally vulnerable Kyle (Jodie Foster) and her young daughter. Mid-flight the girl vanishes. Was she taken, as Kyle suspects? If so, why? Or is Kyle delusional, as the captain (Sean Bean) and the air marshall (Peter Sarsgaard) reckon? The vibe mid-air is appropriately claustrophobic and fraught with intrigue, and Foster's high-tension performances makes the walls feel even closer. But the final third of the film abdicates the psychological in favor of the generic illogical, suddenly connecting all the mystery dots into a story that's just dumb -- and not nearly as much fun. (AH)