Red Eye (2005)reviewed by Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
"Red Eye" is about Lisa, played by Rachel McAdams (Wedding Crashers), a manager at the Lux Atlantic hotel in Miami who is somewhat kidnapped by a terrorist for hire, played by Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins). Lisa must call her hotel and move the new hardline director of Homeland Security, who's checking in in a matter of hours, to a suite where others can assassinate him. If she doesn't, her unsuspecting father is killed. What makes the plan more complicated is Lisa and the terrorist are 35,000 feet in the air on a red eye flight from Texas to Miami. The picture was extremely successful in my eyes for many reasons. Somehow, director Wes Craven managed to create a VERY suspenseful movie while keeping the two main characters seated next to each other on a small plane for the majority of Act Two. The picture's feel was very Hitchcock-esque. The pacing was sketchy in spots, but for the most part, I cared for Lisa and her father. All the main characters were fully developed with small bites of dialogue, and when the finale came around I was cringing for every innocent character to make it out alive. The picture showed an amazing about of control, since there was only one character to actually get killed, even the bad guy was roughed up and shot, but didn't die. He simply layed still, breathing until the cops showed up. The only part of the picture that stuck out for me was the very end when Lisa returned to the hotel, after the DHS was rescued narrowly from the assassination. Lisa walks into the hotel, the DHS thanks her and she goes to have a drink with her employee. I have to believe, after an assassination attempt on the DHS and his family, secret service would be all over Lisa to find out what she knew and discover who hired the terrorist. They would NOT have hesitated. However, that's it. The movie is great, suspenseful and a lot of fun. It has a very simple plot, so there's not a whole lot of thinking involved. Yet, it's smart, and doesn't waste your time with stupid lines and ridiculous scenarios. It's truly a good flick. Benn - Where's the Humanity? |