A desperate father, forced to hijack a plane by terrorists who have his kids, must outwit the resourceful air marshall on his trail after his flight is cancelled and all the passengers are sojourned to a cheap airport hotel.

Hi, I'd put a little less detail in the 'forced to hijack a plane' section because it feels a little irrelevant and top-heavy by the end.

Monster In The House? I'd say it reads as Dude With A Problem... M.I.T.H. pretty much applies to horror, as far as I know...

On the logline -- I'm on the same page as Karel (and others) in that, the set-up seems to suggest an action thriller set on a plane (a tried and true combo...see Non-Stop, Passenger 57, Red Eye, Snakes on a plane ((well, that one's M.I.T.H.)), Air Force One, Con Air etc etc as just a few examples...), but then suggests a movie where we find ourselves stuck in a hotel...kinda a let down, and leads to confusion over the genre.

Best of luck -- I reckon you've got something cool brewing there, you just need to nail the genre. Below is just my spin etc...:

An ex-marine dead-beat dad must take a plane full of government officials hostage, and deliver them to a group of terrorists on a remote island before they kill his only daughter.

Hey Jessica0703 - funny you should mention that. It wasn't until I was writing this logline that I realised I had a "monster in the house" on my hands. Good call.

Logline has a problem with clarity - got it.

Some of you got the sense that the film (or at least the second act) takes place in the hotel, which is right on the money. The inciting incident is actually the cancelling of the plane.

The kidnapping is backstory, revealed as the story progresses. The audience is dropped into the plot as the protagonist and an offsider prepare for the hijacking.

As Karel asks, and a few of you have commented, who is our real antagonist? The air marshall or the terrorists? In this sense, the air marshall is a complication (thanks dpg for verbalising this) - the ultimate goal for this character will be to defeat the terrorists and save his kids.

No doubt I have, as suggested, TMI in my logline. I'm finding it tricky to get right, simply because the protagonist's goal switches at the midpoint from wanting to carry out the attack to keep his kids safe - then after he is caught strikes a deal with the air marshall; if he assists the authorities in thwarting the attack, they'll ensure the safety of his kids. So ... I guess "to save his kids" is his ultimate/over-arching goal?

Will work on a second draft. Thanks gang.