Red Eye

The 2005 American psychological thriller, Red Eye, starring Rachel McAdams and a then relatively unknown Cillian Murphy, didn’t sound or appear to be anything special for the time period (not helped out by truly awful advertising that bombarded people with rapid edits, in-your-face camerawork, cheesy lines, and a tone that seemed too silly for its own sake), but the movie actually managed to do pretty well. Directed by Wes Craven (who had grown a cult following for himself after his horror success with A Nightmare on Elm Street and particularly Scream), Red Eye was received well by fans of Craven’s previous work, but also critics, who viewed it as an effectively tense and decently functional thriller. With a solid box office under its belt, this small movie may not have turned heads, but did manage to entertain just enough of those who did check it out. Hotel manager Lisa Reisert (played by Rachel McAdams) is taking a red-eye flight back to Florida, Miami after attending her grandmother’s funeral, to look after the current United States Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Charles Keefe (played by Jack Scalia), who is staying at her hotel with his family. While waiting to board, she meets a handsome young man named Jackson Rippner (played by Cillian Murphy) whom she strikes up conversation with and even winds up sitting next to him on the plane. This meet-cute turns deadly very quickly however when it’s revealed that Jackson is actually working for a domestic terrorist who is hoping to assassinate Keefe and his family, and forces Lisa to change their rooms in order for the plan to follow through. With the threat of her father, Joseph (played by Brian Cox) being killed if she doesn’t comply and with literally no place to go now that the plane has taken off, Lisa will have to work her way around this situation while keeping the Keefe’s, her father and herself alive. Red Eye suffers some problem like a sloppy third act, bad dialogue, and a few dated elements that are too distracting to ignore, but the film manages to save itself and come out fairly strong with flavorful direction, a brisk but competently constructed screenplay and two engaging leads.

Any story that tries to tackle a subject matter or premise not previously tackled is commendable, and the idea of a thriller taking place on a plane has plenty of potential yet hadn’t really been fully taken advantage of yet. There had been films within the thriller genre that took place on an enclosed transportation like a boat or a train before, and a 2005 Jodie Foster film, Flightplan, would attempt to tell a psychological drama on a plane (to diminishing results), but Red Eye seemed to capture the right amount of effective tension building and cinematic thrills without losing the audience in terms of plausibility. This comes from a script written by first time (and also last time) writer, Dan Foos, and first time writing for a film writer, Carl Ellsworth (who previous worked on shows like Xena: Warrior Princess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Animorphs), which despite being pretty brief and to the point (the film is only about 85 mins in length), does its job at mapping out the important aspects of the story as well as the characters, adequately establishes the conflict and situation without making it obvious how it will be resolved, and doing it in a manner that still manages to be engaging without featuring massive twists or even that much drama. It’s mainly just two people sitting on a plane talking back and forth at each other, and yet that is all that’s requires for this premise to work. With that said, the dialogue can be a little cheesy and it doesn’t come across as bone-chilling as it probably could have, but it’s sufficient in its delivery, patient in its pacing and satisfying in its payoff. The backstory for most of the characters is briefly established, but just enough seeds are laid to add just enough narrative muscle, and the skin of the story is solid enough as a premise that even a basic delivery of it is okay. Craven’s directing style does shine through in this in both a good and a bad way at times. The good is that you can tell he is good at working with actors (whether he wants them to be over-the-top or subdued), his filmmaking personality has a playful side that can be a little hoaky but still manages to be gripping, and he’s definitely good at working both in horror (just in a more grounded sense this time around) and even in romance (with a nice bait-and-switch early on), but there are aspects of his style that feel a little dated and intrusive in a bad way. The climax of the film feels pretty out-of-place and a little too much like a traditional slasher film (which this film never felt like previously). Everything from the lines, the pacing, the music, the acting, even the dialogue feels like an entirely different picture and while not featuring anything that would ruin what came before, it is definitely the weakest part of the film and ends things off on a bit of a weird sour note.

In terms of casting, both Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy were very solid picks for the two leads, but not for the reasons you’d expect. While both are well-known talents now and McAdams had already become a household name from her roles in Mean Girls and The Notebook, Cillian hadn’t reach public awareness at the time and neither were really at the level of star power yet, so getting these two in the film would’ve felt like populating the main roles with B-list actors. However, that actually proves to be more of a benefit than a detriment for this movie, as getting two actors who are known but not huge names, allows for a feeling of flexibility of what they can do and how they can be perceived. They are well known enough that people could see when they are breaking their usual brand, but not to the level that you would be able to predict what kind of delivery they are going to give, and seeing these two acting in a way that both is and isn’t in their comfort zones is pretty entertaining and helps carry a good chunk of this picture. With no other actors in the film really getting as much spotlight or attention, McAdams and Murphy do a lot of the heavy-lifting, and both do a great job creating a fun dynamic where you see the intelligence of both, yet there is no exact moment where one completely dominates the other or is even one step ahead. The ending does veer a little too much out of their comfort zones as both feel pretty weak in the slasher realm, with Murphy having a voice and demeanor that feels like any standard forgettable slasher threat (you can feel some of the hoaky Scream acting coming out in this portion), and McAdams is not capable of selling a slasher-survivor, but as soft-spoken yet fast-thinking individuals, they do really good. They have strangely strong romantic chemistry in the beginning (again, playing into the expected acting personalities of both), and when they become adversaries, that bond remains equally as gripping, just in a totally flipped sense and watching the film plays on that is equally as entertaining, they are definitely the best part of this movie. Thankfully, the supporting cast isn’t too bad either and while they do feel like they are bond to the corny direction and feel a little cartoonish, none are to an irritating level. Brian Cox and Jayma Mays do well with their bit parts, and people like Robert Pine, Teresa Press-Marx, Angela Paton, Suzie Plakson, Monica McSwain, Laura Johnson, Max Kasch, Kyle Gallner, and Brittany Oaks are essentially background roles, but also manage to stand out despite incredibly minimal screentime.

There is nothing worse than when a film feels beholden to a specific time period that hasn’t aged very well, and one of the worst offenders of being dated from a purely lame viewpoint (because in all honesty, there are far worse things that other time periods still hold onto that are thankfully left forgotten about) is the late 90s to the early 2000s. This era was plagued with tons of awkward media and a specific style that nowadays looks horribly desperate and needlessly edgy, so when something gives off that vibe (at least in a non-ironic fashion), it’s going to be noticeable, and this film sadly has a lot of these elements. The visuals and music in this movie are thankfully not as painfully flashy and forceful as they were in the trailers, but that element is still pretty prevalent throughout, with a tone and style that screams heavily of the time period which actively harms the premise, which would benefit from at least a hint of quiet composure. While people aren’t cracking catchphrases or showing off popular tech left and right, the cinematography by Robert Yeoman and especially the musical score by Marco Beltrami (who was a regular collaborator of Craven) has a distinct feel that can be a bit distracting at times. For the most part, the camerawork isn’t too bad and even on occasion is handled well in service of the story, like whenever it almost swims through the plane to showcase each person in their own moment and where they are located, but the music is where things get annoying from both a dated and even just a basic filmmaking level. The score is constantly in your face at times, and clearly shows its more active horror side with a piece that has noticeable dips and dives to build up a jump scare that isn’t there, has distracting instrumentation that only seem to cut the tension rather than add to it, and while it works better in the climax where that sound and pace matches better, that sections overall disconnect from the rest of the movie only further proves the point that it isn’t suited for a more subdued situation.

Red Eye isn’t anything that reaches the level of a Hitchcock thriller or even something along the lines of an overly dramatic Twilight Zone episode, but as it is, there is enough talent, intensity and enjoyability to make it a simple yet entertaining sit, and something that is far better than maybe people probably thought it would be. There arguably should’ve been more elements fleshed out in the story and characters as to properly round things out, but there was an extended cut released only to TV that might’ve elaborated on things further, so enough time was put into this movie so that even some of these chinks in the armor were thought of ahead of time. The film is still plagued with a dated quality to its technicals, intrusive music and a tacked-on third act climax that clashes with the rest of the film’s atmosphere, but with an effective script, direction that adds character and tension, and two very solid leading performances, Red Eye is a flight that might just be worth experiencing (despite how extremely uncomfortable air travel can be even without a homicidal passenger).