Red Eye (2005)

Bad. Do not watch.Pathetic acting, pathetic and predictable plot. Terrible ending.

Rachel McAdam does a jodie foster type role here. The film is barely 90 minutes duration. Rachel Mcadams boards a plane where seeming friendly Murphy took seat beside her. The film plunges into a tense edgy thriller the moment the plane leaves ground. Cillian Murphy was brilliant in the negative role. As I mentioned above, acting of Mcadams will remind you of Jodie Foster from silence of the lambs, panic room. The fear in her face was so real that Murphy although brilliant in his role was slightly overshadowed. The film is one of the best air borne thriller in this decade.

I caught this film late one night on terrestrial TV and it wasn't actually that bad, it kept me entertained at least and I was curious how it would pan out - even if the stars of the film were ignoring my drunken shouted recommendations for a better escape/resolution ;)A resourceful hotel coordinator (I think that was her job??) played by Rachel McAdams is taking a red-eye (all night) flight, before boarding the flight she meets a young charming man (Cillian Murphy) who seems to be interesting enough to talk to, less annoying than the other passengers at least. To me, it seemed like the man was a bit creepy stalker weirdo (which Cillian Murphy plays really well FTR) but but despite lots of strange coincidences between them, this doesn't alarm McAdam's character, Lisa. As the voyeur it's my job to get more information from the situation for my journey, so of course McAdams shouldn't be clever enough to pick up on the threat and there is a threat. It's not until they are both stuck on the plane that the truth comes and the truth of the matter has far hitting consequences. A quaint and harmless little suspense movie which is date night friendly. Not an out and out original plot but Wes Craven delivers a Hitchcock-esque suspense filled with clichés that you can just sit back and leave you brain at the door for.

Originally reviewed: 18/02/2017 This is actually a new, refreshing thriller; were my thoughts after the first two acts; but like a lot of thrillers; the third act is a complete waste. Rachael McAdam's (Lisa) is very good in the picture, along with Cillian Murphy (Jackson) as the clever antagonist. The supporting cast are also respectable here; this includes Brian Cox (Lisa's father), Jayma Mays (Cynthia), and Suzie Plakson (Flight attendant). The picture starts of well despite an unintentionally laughable line where McAdams bumps into an older lady and the lady says "Don't sweat it. I'm wearing my combat boots"; but other than that it was brisk and extremely well done. There's plenty of interesting exchanges of dialogue between Lisa and Jackson; including a scene where they grab a drink at the bar before they board the plane; and upon boarding there's more interesting conversations as the story builds up. Also impressive is the decent amount of characterisation we get before the plot starts to unfold.When the plot does unfold, and he tells her the situation, it gets out of hand; as he headbutts her in the face later on for trying to deceive him; but what I don't believe is that nobody noticed. There's also ill-advised humour where the plane is taking off and one of the other passenger's jokes out loud "We're not going to make it", this is hardly an appropriate joke on board a plane. Other unexplained things included a book that Jackson steals from the old lady which has a message scribbled in earlier on from Lisa; but like I said before nobody notices this either which is again strange; that leads me to my last problem before the third act, how does McAdams's character grab the pen from the other side of the plane; we must assume she just grabbed it on the way to the bathroom. Despite all this I was still enjoying it, but that was until the plane lands.All of the ingenuity and thrills go out the window as soon as they leave the plane; it's one clichéd chase sequence with an explosion thrown in for good measure; for which I will also call out; why use a rocket launcher for an assassination? Any other weapon would have been more subtle. Then I asked myself why they are trying to kill this guy and his family; but I got no answers. This brings me to the final act, where McAdam's drives into a thug who just happens to be in front of her house and during that crash, no one bothers to call the police or emergency services? Surely someone was around; and what happens later is your usual cliché showdown between the kidnapped and the kidnapper; where the bad guy obviously ends up dying; give me a break; Craven's film was strong for the first two acts but it's climax was nothing more than a run of the mill thriller with clichés, plot holes and a predictable ending; Red Eye was almost worth recommending, but like I said, almost.