Cast/Notable Credits:
Wes Craven (Director): A Nightmare on Elm St.
Rachel McAdams (Lisa Reisert): The Hot Chick (2002), Mean Girls (2004), The Notebook (2004), Wedding Crashers (2005), Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Cillian Murhpy (Jackson Rippner): 28 Days Later (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008)
Brian Cox (Joe Reisert): The Ring
Jayma Mays (Cynthia): Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Epic Movie (2007), Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009), Ugly Betty T.V. series
Laura Johnson (Blonde Woman): Four Christmases (2008), Falcon Crest T.V. series
Jack Scalia (Charles Keefe): End Game (2006), The Wolf & Dallas T.V. series
Trailer:
Plot:
While returning home on a late night flight from Dallas to Miami, a hotel manager, Lisa Reisert, encounters another passenger on the flight, Jackson Rippner. Jackson
and Lisa first met in an airport bar while waiting for their delayed flight to departure.Jackson comes off as a handsome, charming man that playfully flirts with Lisa. They two of them end up having a drink and having some fun. They part and go separate ways when the plane begins boarding. Ah...young love.
While finding her seat on the plane, Lisa is surprised to find Jackson already sitting down in the seat right next to her. Jackson playfully remarks, “You’re not stalking me? Are you?”
The two continue to pick up where they left off at the bar as the plane begins to depart. Lisa has anxiety when it comes to flying, and Jackson helps keep her calm during a rough take-off. Once the plane is in the air, Lisa asks Jackson what he does for a living. He replies, “Government overthrows, flashy high-profile assassinations. The Usual.” Wow! That's the same as my job description...minus everything in the first sentence.
Lisa believes that Jackson is joking at first, but then Jackson slyly clues her in on his true intentions over the next couple of minutes of conversation. He tells her that she should call her hotel and authorize a move that puts one of the up and coming guests, the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security (Charles Keefe), into another room. It’s a
move which obviously puts him more at risk for an assassination attempt.If she doesn’t make the call, then her father will die. Jackson then pulls out her dad’s wallet which was lifted from his house in Miami to prove that he is serious. He continues to tell her that a hit man is standing by awaiting his instructions to kill her dad unless she cooperates and makes the call to her hotel.
Now Lisa is trapped on a plane with nowhere to go and Jackson by her side to keep her in check. She has no other choice than to meet Jackson’s demands or her father dies. Her dilemma is simple: Keefe’s life or her fathers. Makes you want to think twice when it comes to flying the friendly skies.
Villain:
Cillian Murphy stars as the film’s chief villain, Jackson Rippner…if that was his real name. It sounds a lot like Jack the Ripper, doesn’t it? Jackson first comes across as a nice, charming and handsome young man, but soon afterwards he reveals his dark side and intentions. He’s not afraid to let Lisa know that he has study and stalked her for some time and knows her better than she originally thought.
I really loved Murphy (Pictured Left)in his role. It was a stroke of genius on director Wes Craven’s part. Over the years, Murphy has proved to me that he
can play a great villain. As the Scarecrow in Batman Begins he was just okay, but this film brings him to the top of the villain game.Murphy played the part of an above average looking dude that could have possibly been someone’s knight in shining armor and turned him into an ice cold assassin. It’s one of those things that guys like me like to see this stud that could be a star in many dumb chick flicks get to play the ultimate creepy dude with an ice cold persona to him.
The only real problem that I had with the Jackson character came towards the end of the movie. For a professional assassin/terrorist, he ended up being a pussy during the “fight scene” with Lisa at the end. I thought these guys were a bunch of bad *sses when he came to fighting. Not this guy, he got thrown around like a b*tch during the final fight. I guess it had to happen if the movie was going to have a happy ending, but I thought it could have been done a little better…at least not make him such a puss.
Cast:
The cast of Red Eye was relatively small with a bunch of bit characters on the air plane, a few hotel customers and workers, Keefe and his family and of course Lisa and her father. Lisa was played by the lovely Rachel McAdams who did a fabulous job for her part.
McAdams played a good strong working, career oriented, single female with a lonely heart. She was originally taken in by Jackson, but then became frightened once his fake layers were peeled away. Once she suffered through her emotional distress, she stepped up her game and became a strong lead female not willing to give into Jackson’s demands while attempting to foil his plan.
SFX/Gore:
There wasn’t much in the way of special effects or gore in this film, because it was more of a suspenseful thriller. Red Eye did however have a nice Michael Bay inspired explosion which wiped out a couple floors of a Miami hotel.
As far as deaths go…there wasn’t that many in the film. The only ones to go by the wayside were the bad guys, which really bummed me. I’m sure that they could have thrown a sacrificial lamb or two in the film for good measure.
TNA:
Both sex parties get a good dose of eye candy in the film from the two star characters. The women get the dreamy eyed Murphy while the guys are treated to the lovely Rachel McAdams (Pictured Below). She was hot in Wedding Crashers and she was hot in Mean Girls. So there’s no surprise when I say that she’s hot in this one.
T.Gun’s Take:
Red Eye is a good suspenseful thriller to watch…especially for being PG-13. Craven did an excellent job on directing the film and doing what he does best…create a good scary atmosphere. It’s never been disputed that Craven has the skills and ability to make scary intense films, and this was just another example of it.
Craven just proves that blood and guts doesn’t always add up to being scary as he was able to make this film PG-13 and still pull off the horror magic. How’d he do it? The most simple, but forgotten, way of making movies…story telling.
Over two thirds of the movie takes place on an airplane between two people seated next to each other. One is good and the other is bad. The way Craven lays down the story is just awesome. He still creates that terrifying experience with a closterphobic feel to the film. That’s just a great classic Hitchcock set up for a movie.
The biggest gripe that I had against the movie had to be the ending, it was a little too Steven Speilberg-ish (as in a happy, happy, joy, joy ending). This probably started once the airplane landed and Lisa started her hokey airport escape. I don’t want to go into full details and spoil the movie, but I will say that I wasn’t impressed with it.
I thought that she was able to get off the airplane (given the current circumstances) and flee the airport from Jackson a little bit too easy. If the airport security had breaches of that ease, then I wouldn’t feel safe taking flights.
After Lisa’s Houdini from the airport, the final showdown and confrontation between her and Jackson eventually ends up at her father’s house as she attempts to stop the awaiting assassin from killing her father. I’m sure everyone can envision what happens next as Jackson appears at the house also.
One thing leads to another and we finally have Lisa pitted up against Jackson in her father’s house. The two struggle, fight and run around the house. This is probably what irks me the most as we have this professional assassin dude struggling to put down a 100 lb girl. Surprise! Lisa wins and saves the day.
This is a letdown ending to an otherwise great flick. Eighty to eighty-five percent of the movie is awesome but it’s super feel good ending left a bad taste in my mouth. I’m sure an average person that buys into the “suspension of disbelief” factor of movies would love this film. Red Eye isn’t totally a disaster in my book, but it was just a few script writing or scene altering from being a kick *ss flick.
Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on August 19, 2005 and made $57.8 million at the Box Office ($16.1 million opening weekend)
-Name of the hotel is the Lux Atlantic Resort
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