Movie Reviews
First things first, “Red Eye” is not a horror movie. It was not advertised as a horror movie, nor did anyone on the project claim that it was. But the fact that Wes Craven’s name was slapped on as director made it seem the opposite. Craven has made so many horror movies that it is a surprise to see him trying out something new like this.
And “Red Eye” is alive and well; thriving on an intellect that is almost always non-existent in thrillers of its kind. The characters do not find themselves crawling out of a rut dug by their own moronic tendencies. None of the characters have moronic tendencies to dig a rut with in the first place. In place of that cheap, overused trait is something fresh and uncharted: smart people, making decisions based on what they think is right both morally and credibly.
Screenwriter Carl Ellsworth – working from original material – can take a lot of credit for how the characters play out, but I think it is more than appropriate to accommodate Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy for their fantastic performances. Each plays everything straight forward and choose not to up the dramatic effect of crying and yelling and screaming and such. No, that – like moronic tendencies – is very old and doesn’t work to heighten suspense.
The story goes that Lisa (McAdams) is the manager at a hotel in Miami. She’s flying home to Miami from Texas, from her grandma’s funeral on a red eye flight that has been delayed from a storm, and is clogging the terminal with hundreds of restless people wanting to get home. She meets Jackson (Murphy) in line for her bag check, and his gentlemanly manners manage to bring her to the bar for a drink where they wait for the storm to pass. They exchange perhaps too much information.
Jackson has no intention of sweeping Lisa off her feet for reasons that are, let’s say, legal. He corners her into a situation that forces her to commit an act of evil to save the life of someone she loves.
What is notable here is how these scenes unfold. Much of the second act consists of close-contact conversation between two people in a small space. The way Craven leaves the lights on Murphy, how it shadows over McAdams, how many of the passengers on board have a role in the conflict show that Craven knows, without a shadow of a doubt, how to make a thriller. And a pretty good one, at that.
In the last twenty minutes, “Red Eye” gets too big for its britches. The desired effect is quietness followed by unrivaled action to take us by surprise. Well, I guess it does do that, but when we’ve been riding in coach for the last forty-five minutes and buildings begin blowing up, we aren’t prone to just accept it all.
At least these characters are smart, though. At least the story is original. At least we’ve not seen much of what happens. In fact, Craven takes a jab at himself in a scene where McAdams and Murphy are running through an airport. Lisa trips and falls when she gets off one of those floor escalators, but not because there happens to be a killer running after her. She falls because people really do trip when they get off those things. I do anyway. ***