It was directed and written by Tom Holland and based on the novella by Stephen King from the four-part anthology book Four Past Midnight.
During a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Boston, several passengers awaken to find that the rest have disappeared, leaving behind personal belongings and even surgical implants.
Those remaining are pilot Brian Engle, deadheading on the flight, MI6 assassin Nick Hopewell, schoolteacher Laurel Stevenson, tool and die worker Don Gaffney, violinist Albert Kaussner, troubled teen Bethany Sims, mystery author Bob Jenkins, blind girl Dinah Bellman, sleepy businessman Rudy Warwick, and Type A bond trader Craig Toomy.
Dinah reports hearing a strange crackling sound in the distance, while Bob deduces that the plane passed through a time rip, sending them to a past moment empty of people and energy.
Craig, experiencing hallucinations of his abusive father, finds a gun in an airport locker and takes Bethany hostage.
While restrained, Craig tells Dinah that his father warned him about the Langoliers, monsters that chase and eat lazy children.
[1] For scenes on the plane, the production team acquired a retired Lockheed L-1011 TriStar aircraft from Japan which was cut up into several pieces and transported to set, where it was re-assembled to appear intact.
The website's consensus reads: "While not without its fair share of thrills, The Langoliers suffers from a meandering pace and dubious characterizations.
[5] Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly gave it a "B" rating, calling it an episode of The Twilight Zone stretched out to four hours, [but] nonetheless does have its moments.
[6] TV Guide gave it one out of five stars, calling it tedious and boring, criticizing its "dull" script, "cardboard characters", "ludicrous special effects", and its "dishwatery cast, [with the sole exception of] Pinchot, who rolls his eyes like an alien thespian from the Planet Ham".
[8] The book Stephen King Films FAQ asserted that Bronson Pinchot "chews more scenery than all of the Langoliers put together".