Red Eye (A- or 3.5/4 stars)
Your pulse will race during 'Red Eye', a thriller directed by Wes Craven (Swamp Thing, the Scream films). Action begins when Lisa Reisert & Jack Kippner (Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy) are stranded at Dallas-Ft. Worth airport, waiting for their flight to depart for Miami after foul weather has delayed them. They flirt with each other, have a few drinks in the airport lounge, & then discover that they are sitting side by side on the plane ... what a coincidence. Things seem to be going swell 'til she asks him what his line of business is and he responds, " ... my business is all about you".
Things go from pleasant to incredibly creepy with the bat of an eye. Calmly, Jack explains to Lisa that her father (Brian Cox) is being held hostage & that unless she helps him arrange a certain suite change for a customer at the hotel she works at, he will be killed. See, Jack wants to assassinate the Secretary of Homeland Security, Charles Keefe (Jack Scalia). If Keefe's suite at Lisa's hotel can be changed, Jack's henchmen will be situated so that they can kill him & his family. Trapped in the plane, Lisa is petrified as she tries to figure out a way to save the Keefe family as well as her own father.
There are some great scenes on the plane in which Lisa tries to send some signals to other passengers of the danger she is in. After she tries to send a message in a book, an alarming, jolt-worthy exchange takes place btwn. Jack & Lisa. What follows after they land is a string of scenes where a disabled Jack tries to prevent Lisa from getting back to her house to alert her father of the imminent danger. And in classic thriller form, creeping through a two-story house, the heroine must find a way to kill the bad guy before he gets to her first. Will Lisa be able to save Keefe & his family? Can she get back to her house in time to warn her father? Will the heroine die at the expense of saving so many other lives? I recommend this film because it is a wild ride & worth finding out what happens.
Rachel McAdams is attractive, exceedingly likeable, but she also makes a statement here as a really solid actress. She is completely believable in this role; nailing Lisa's turmoil, sweetness & resourceful grit every step of the way. And really, it is her stellar performance that anchors the rest of the film as it flitters in-&-out of plausibility. I also enjoyed Cillian Murphy, who seems to thrive in these sinister roles (he was the Scarecrow in this summer's early hit, Batman Begins). But we also saw his pleasant side as he played the protagonist in 28 Days Later; so, he's versatile, & I wouldn't be surprised to see him in many more roles in the near future. He is an asset to any project that comes his way.
Gripes with the film? Not many. At 80-85 minutes in length, I think the film is perfectly paced with the 1) airport set-up scenes, 2) terrifying plane set piece, and 3) cat-&-mouse games in the house. One minor gripe (and it's not even about the film, itself) ... I almost didn't see this film because the trailers turned me off. I was in no mood to see another film with supernatural components. Kippner, literally, has red eyes in the trailer (looked like another zombie film, which I couldn't abide). By word of mouth and/or reviews, I found out that it was a good movie & I viewed it only because of that. So the marketing of the film (via trailer) is a bit misleading.
The story is simple & concise. It is endlessly entertaining. It contains intelligent dialogue. The right amount of nail-biting tension is applied. The acting is a huge asset. The chemistry btwn. the 2 leads is great. And there are no nonsense scenes in the film to fill a gap. It is a great movie-going experience because it has a little of everything. It provides good laughs, drama, knee-jerks, action, thrills & a satisfying resolution. This is the surprise hit of the summer, & as it comes to a close in the next week or two, I anxiously await the fall line-up.
Things go from pleasant to incredibly creepy with the bat of an eye. Calmly, Jack explains to Lisa that her father (Brian Cox) is being held hostage & that unless she helps him arrange a certain suite change for a customer at the hotel she works at, he will be killed. See, Jack wants to assassinate the Secretary of Homeland Security, Charles Keefe (Jack Scalia). If Keefe's suite at Lisa's hotel can be changed, Jack's henchmen will be situated so that they can kill him & his family. Trapped in the plane, Lisa is petrified as she tries to figure out a way to save the Keefe family as well as her own father.
There are some great scenes on the plane in which Lisa tries to send some signals to other passengers of the danger she is in. After she tries to send a message in a book, an alarming, jolt-worthy exchange takes place btwn. Jack & Lisa. What follows after they land is a string of scenes where a disabled Jack tries to prevent Lisa from getting back to her house to alert her father of the imminent danger. And in classic thriller form, creeping through a two-story house, the heroine must find a way to kill the bad guy before he gets to her first. Will Lisa be able to save Keefe & his family? Can she get back to her house in time to warn her father? Will the heroine die at the expense of saving so many other lives? I recommend this film because it is a wild ride & worth finding out what happens.
Rachel McAdams is attractive, exceedingly likeable, but she also makes a statement here as a really solid actress. She is completely believable in this role; nailing Lisa's turmoil, sweetness & resourceful grit every step of the way. And really, it is her stellar performance that anchors the rest of the film as it flitters in-&-out of plausibility. I also enjoyed Cillian Murphy, who seems to thrive in these sinister roles (he was the Scarecrow in this summer's early hit, Batman Begins). But we also saw his pleasant side as he played the protagonist in 28 Days Later; so, he's versatile, & I wouldn't be surprised to see him in many more roles in the near future. He is an asset to any project that comes his way.
Gripes with the film? Not many. At 80-85 minutes in length, I think the film is perfectly paced with the 1) airport set-up scenes, 2) terrifying plane set piece, and 3) cat-&-mouse games in the house. One minor gripe (and it's not even about the film, itself) ... I almost didn't see this film because the trailers turned me off. I was in no mood to see another film with supernatural components. Kippner, literally, has red eyes in the trailer (looked like another zombie film, which I couldn't abide). By word of mouth and/or reviews, I found out that it was a good movie & I viewed it only because of that. So the marketing of the film (via trailer) is a bit misleading.
The story is simple & concise. It is endlessly entertaining. It contains intelligent dialogue. The right amount of nail-biting tension is applied. The acting is a huge asset. The chemistry btwn. the 2 leads is great. And there are no nonsense scenes in the film to fill a gap. It is a great movie-going experience because it has a little of everything. It provides good laughs, drama, knee-jerks, action, thrills & a satisfying resolution. This is the surprise hit of the summer, & as it comes to a close in the next week or two, I anxiously await the fall line-up.