Z/Web

Interesting and unusual thriller. Rachel McAdams is amazing and that’s a good thing, because the whole movie rests on her shoulders — she’s in nearly every frame. She has to convey a wide variety of emotions, and though she looks gorgeous, she can’t be too pretty as she needs to be sympathetic. All that is well-handled. Unfortunately, the story’s not as strong as I would have liked. It’s good but not great. It starts out awesome, with Rachel as a delayed passenger on a flight to Miami who meets a fellow passenger. They have a drink, chat and flirt a bit, and it’s all very charming. Then they end up sitting next to each other on the plane — a romantic coincidence, right? Until after takeoff when the man suddenly turns nasty: he knows all about her, knows her father, and claims to have an associate watching her dad and ready to kill him if she doesn’t cooperate. Rachel’s terrified, but when she finds out that what the man wants her to do will cost the lives of a politician and his family, she rebels. Thus begins a wonderful battle of wills in the belly of a 747. What I loved about this concept, and what the promos seemed to promote, was that the two would fight it out on the airplane — and I adore such tight-knit action, especially when it has to be done under the unsuspecting noses of the fellow passengers and flight crew. Unfortunately, while there’s a tiny bit of that, most of the action takes place after the plane lands, and then it’s derivative and falls into standard action fare. It’s not bad, just not as good as I wanted or it could have been. This film could have been unique and amazing, but as it is it’s just pretty good (and most of that is due to the first half and to McAdams’ performance). Still, it’s a fun ride and worth seeing.