Starring: Tina Anderson, Brian Cox, Carl Gilliard, Mary Kathleen Gordon, Laura Johnson Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: DVD Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Dreamworks Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: January 10, 2006 Running Time: 85 minutes Theatrical Release Date: August 19, 2005
Amazon.com: Veteran horror director Wes Craven lends his proven talent to the non-horror thriller Red-Eye, turning it into an above-average potboiler that makes the most of its 85 tension-packed minutes. That's a perfect running time for a movie like this, in which a resourceful heroine Lisa (Rachel McAdams, the breakout star of 2005) is trapped on a red-eye flight with creepy villain Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy, even more menacing than he was as the Scarecrow in Batman Begins) who's playing middle-man in the plot to assassinate a Homeland Security official. He's got her father pinned down by a would-be killer, using that advantage to coerce Lisa into phoning the luxury resort where she works and arranging to move the target into a pre-set position. It's a situation from which there is seemingly no escape, but of course Craven and screenwriter Carl Ellsworth find a way to milk the suspenseful dilemma for all it's worth, even managing to wedge in a few intriguing character details to enhance the fast-moving plot. It's still a B-movie, but it's tightly constructed and well-executed by Craven, whose previous films made him a perfect choice to maximize all that Red-Eye has to offer. --Jeff Shannon
good thriller While it's not the edge of your seat thriller, I really enjoy how it all comes together at the end.
IT'S JUST ME, BUT: GOOD THRILLER ON A RED EYE FLIGHT, USING A DAUGHTER TO TRY AND SAVE HER FATHER. JM
not good i didn't find this movie so much scary or suspenceful as disturbing. you know that sick feeling you get when a character is raped? it is like that for an hour of the movie. the plot is pretty weak as well.
GREAT MOVIE... Really enjoyed this movie. Rachel Mcadams totally kicks, well you know, in this movie. I'm a huge fan of hers and she did a superb job in this intense drama. Highly recommend it to anyone!
No red flags for "Red Eye." Horror maven Wes Craven gets the red out of his eye and moves effectively into the intense Hitchcockian thriller genre.
While I admit to being a horror film fan (excluding the slasher and torture sub-genres), I admire Wes Craven when he moves out of his comfort zone and explores other genres. He did this earlier with the very sensitively directed Music of the Heart with Meryl Streep and helped her earn another Oscar nomination with her role as an arrogant but caring music teacher. Now here he is with a less gore more psychological thriller that Alfred (Psycho) Hitchcock would have made if he was still around.
This film has numerous twists and turns and probably the less said, the better regarding plot, but all I'll reveal is that the ever cute Rachel McAdams (The Notebook) is trapped sitting next to the incredibly menacing and slimy Cillian Murphy (Scarecrow in Batman Begins) who blackmails her into cooperating with his plans that are a bit too convoluted to get into the details here.
At a tight well-paced 85 minutes McAdams continues to outwit her capture, but Murphy is usually one step ahead of her, or at least only one or two steps in back of her (but he always catches up quickly). The tension is creatively and believably drawn out and the film is not without its humorous moments to lighten the thick atmosphere at times. This typically occurs just when the film seems like it's about to take itself too seriously and wants to then step back and give us a wink that clearly says, "we're just havin' fun here."
High praise all around from the simple B-level set designs, appropriate not-over-the-top music, and clever script to the wholly believable performances of the stars, solid cinematography that clearly has the less is more approach, and the steady controlled direction by Wes Craven who should do more films like this one.
Why four stars and not five after all this praise? Well, it's really all B-movie quality; it's just done extremely well.
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