Red Eye

I had fun watching Red Eye. It's not a masterpiece, but it's well directed and structured. Cillian Murphy and Rachel McAdams are perfect in the role. Yes, it's the same old story with a different setting but Wes Craven gave it a good pace. At least not another Scream with the usual college killer. It's nice when you can see a clean, coherent thriller even when originality doesn't stand out as its main character. Particularly from a film-maker like Craven that has brought so many innovative ideas to the thriller and horror genre in the past and that now just lends himself to bringing home what could have been a good TV movie had it not been released theatrically. Good job!

When Red Eye first came out I thought it was somewhat cheesy and lacking in any scriptural integrity. However, revisiting this 10 years later has changed my mind. It actually is quite a nice thriller, with the action starting very early, even before they board the plane. You understand the Cillian Murphy character is "off" almost from the outset. Great thrillers offer subtle humor as well, and this one does in droves. While I love aviation movies, most of the action appears after the plane lands. But that is OK, as the movie keeps up the pace throughout. A nice, tight suspense film with (yes, some questionable acting here and there), but overall a nice suspense/thriller.

Red Eye is not the kind of movie that's going to win the Palme D'or, but Wes Craven has never been that kind of director, anyway, and his branding is a good indication of what a film-goer can expect.

The fact that Red Eye is a tight little, undemanding package at 94 minutes is part of its charm and an indication of Craven's craft in producing lightweight, but generally enjoyable, box office fare. In fact, it's the perfect kind of movie to show as inflight entertainment, attention-holding without putting any intellectual or emotional challenges on the viewer.

Overall there is a cheesy feeling to the plot, vague terrorist subplot motivation and the supporting characters, and the main section has a TV movie feel. However, there are definite elements of Hitchcockian suspense, and echoes of Schumacher's Phone Booth, which ultimately is a more sophisticated (and pretentious) play on the same idea of emotional crisis being played out suppressed in public.

For a film that focuses mainly on two people sitting in airline seats, it lives or dies on the characters and script. Cillian's icy but eloquent Jackson Rippner and Rachel MacAdams resourceful Lisa are the main reasons the film gets carried off. Not only making the dialogue zing but also giving some sort of Adam's Rib type dimension to their battle of 'male logic' against feminine 'sensitivity'.

In the final portion of the film Craven indulges himself a little Scream style as man-chases-girl-with-knife. The most surprising revelation here is what Brian Cox looks like after the 'Just for Men' treatment, his ubiqutous appearance in films as diverse as Super Troopers, The Ring and this making him the sexegenarian version of Jude Law.

Short haul fun.

"Red Eye" is all about Lisa (McAdams) who is simply trying to get home during a bad weather snarl at the airport and finds herself stuck on a red-eye and flying headlong into a suspense drama. A busy, fun little no brainer, "Red Eye" begins like a romcom, morphs into a suspense/action flick, and takes you on a simple-minded but entertaining girl power ride as Lisa races with the clock to save the day. Probably worth the price of a DVD rental, "Red Eye" will play best with fans of rising star McAdams and those who no brain it to avoid it's many nagging plot holes. Keep expectations real for maximum enjoyment. (B-)

The film talks about two people(Rachel McAdams,Cillian Murphy) who meet one night very late in the airport,catching a Red-eye.The story is the worst plane ride you could ever take.The place on the airplane where everything is compressed but that really contributes to the sense of claustrophobic,creeping terror, it's this struggle ,all contained within the coach section of the plane. This is the story of the worst person you could sit next to on a plane.The excitement is generated out of this compelling conversation between two individuals that start off innocent enough but then suddenly devolves.The psychological mind-play between these two characters and what it is to have to sit in one spot and be terrorized and basically held hostage,she and his father(Brian Cox) without letting anyone else know what's going on.Wes Craven said that he was attracted to this project ,first of all for the remarkably constructed script written by Carl Ellsworth.Thus the characters are complex,when you think you know what's gonna happen something else happens and the fascinating idea is that you never know who who you're going to sit next to on an airplane.The screenwriter does a character piece,and ,in a way ,maybe he creates a hybrid of the independent character film and Hollywood action blockbuster,thus we can have a character-driver piece,but also have suspense,thriller,action elements in it as well.

The movie was filmed principally in Los Angeles.All of the airplane shot were on a set,but there was no way in hell one could shot this on a real airplane.Craven had an airplane that could take apart,it could pull sections off of the side and it could pull out panels and have a camera swoop down aisles and go up over people.Production design by Bruce Miller worked for Craven on many films,he creates splendidly the scenes that he needs to tell the story,the look of movie is just wanted to keep it as real as possible.He decided to go with the two-three seating pattern which is a 767 airplane and took pieces from many airplanes and put them together in this format with overhead baggage compartments,lighting,the seats and various pieces.We have a feeling you're in this capsule at 30.000 feet in the air .There's one shot where we see a tiny plane going through these huge clouds banks and you have the feeling they're in this tiny ship in the middle of nowhere.It's the old horror film thing of all these things happen in the middle of nowhere. The motion picture displays a colorful cinematography by Robert Yeoman and atmospheric musical by Marco Beltrani.The film is magnificently directed by the master of terror Wes Craven .