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Craven crafted this thriller without the horror
Naples Daily News
12 January 2010
By Joe Altomere
We all have bad days. I've had a few myself recently thanks to cars and what happens when they decide to not work properly.
All that aside, I've found that it makes me feel better when I'm having a bad day to watch a movie about someone who's having a far worse day than I am. I can point at the screen, laugh and say, "Gee, life would be a lot worse if I were being attacked by killer tomatoes instead of that dude."
Don't worry, I have no plans to now or ever review Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Remedying a bad day with an even worse movie would only be counterproductive.
No, I'm talking about Red Eye—a popcorn thriller directed by the one and only Wes Craven.
It's about Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) and how she's going to have a very bad day.
It starts out in an airport where Lisa is arriving after having just attended her grandmother's funeral. She has a fear of flying and it doesn't help when there's a flight delay that will only prolong the inevitable.
In what would appear to be a moment of fortuity, Lisa happens to meet a very charming man by the name of Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy). The two have a moment and end up having a drink in the airport bar. As fate would have it, they're even seated next to each other on the airplane once they're able to board.
The plane has a bumpy departure, much to Lisa's dismay, but Jackson calms her down by talking her through it. Despite all that had gone wrong, it would seem that Lisa has actually met someone worth knowing.
Once the plane is in the air, however, things take a dark turn. Jackson reveals to Lisa that he is essentially a terrorist, that her father (Brian Cox) is under surveillance by a hitman and that if Lisa doesn't do exactly what she's told her father will be murdered in the most unpleasant of ways.
Talk about out of left field.
As it turns out, Lisa is the acting hotel manager for a luxury hotel in Miami. A bigwig politician, Charles Keefe (Jack Scalia), will be staying there later in the day, and Jackson wants Lisa to switch Keefe's room around in order for a hit to be taken out on him.
Lisa obviously wants no part of it, but Jackson is very persistent. In the meantime, Lisa must somehow figure out a way to save Keefe's life, her father's life and, of course, her own life, all while being five miles above the ground.
It's quite a predicament, but an enjoyable one for the viewer. Part of the fun with a movie like this is trying to figure out what you would do if you were in the character's situation. And then you can yell at the screen when they do something you in your right mind would never do.
Sounds a lot like watching a horror movie, doesn't it? In fact, that's probably what you were thinking when I mentioned Wes Craven's name earlier. He's the mastermind behind such great horror flicks like The Hills Have Eyes, The Last House on the Left and my personal favorite, A Nightmare On Elm Street.
He's certainly one of the founding fathers of the horror genre as we know it today. So it would seem a little strange to think of him directing a movie where people weren't having their dreams invaded by the boogeyman or being hacked to little pieces by psychopaths.
It's one of his rare departures from the horror genre and he does a great job with it. He adds stylistic elements that most non-horror directors wouldn't think of. You'll understand what I mean when you watch it, because some scenes are played out like in a horror movie. It's a great suspense builder.
While the direction is great, you can't have a good film without a good cast.
The majority of Red Eye takes place on an airplane, which means that the majority of the movie is dialogue. If Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz were the leads this might make the movie … well, an actual horror movie. What something like this needs are people you can actually invest in.
McAdams comes off as very levelheaded and doesn't overplay the damsel in distress card. Her actions are more or less feasible and you don't find yourself questioning them too much.
Murphy plays a great villain (as was noted in Batman Begins, where he played Scarecrow) and what makes him so great is his cool-as-ice demeanor. He's not built very big, so for intimidation purposes he has to rely solely on his attitude that says nothing could ever possibly go wrong because I'm in control of the situation.
He's also very charming and likable, which makes him fun to watch because while you may not be rooting for him per se, it's not exactly like you want to see him get tortured to death, which is sometimes the case for some movie villains. Remember Percy in The Green Mile?
Overall, while some of the actions leading up to the film's climax may require you to suspend your disbelief, Red Eye is still a very solid thriller. You're able to suspend disbelief rather easily because you're enjoying everything else so much that nothing else really seems to matter.
Bottom line, Red Eye is a thriller that you don't have to take too seriously to enjoy. Simply take the material at face value, enjoy the performances and have a good time with it. If you're ever having a bad day it's certainly a nice alternative.
