Watching Cillian Murphy Gives Us Red Eye

On the other end of the runway comes Wes Craven’s delightful little gem Red Eye, starring Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins) as himself. The trailers are deceptive by showing Murphy as literally having a glowing red eye and by not fully revealing the plot of the movie. Knowing the staple of Wes Craven’s films, the trailers seemed to suggest that Satan himself was on the flight and that you get red eye from looking at him for too long and that Rachel McAdams (Wedding Crashers) is here to stop it. Fortunately, no.

Rachel McAdams is privy to the security checks at the hotel where she works. Cillian Murphy is the suave and charismatic terrorist liason who woos McAdams, then takes her hostage on the “red eye” flight back to Miami. His demands? Transfer a visiting politician’s room to a vulnerable ocean-view penthouse so that Murphy’s terrorist buddies can nuke him from the bay.

It is standard fare for a thriller and offers nothing new cinematically, nor does it have any twists and turns that we haven’t seen before. But it is an incredibly well made film and epitomizes what we have come to expect out of this type of movie. McAdams is great as the damsel-in-distress who uses her intelligence and instinct to outwit her predator. Murphy shines as the now-typecast creepy GQ guy with sociopathic tendencies.

Red Eye is a fast-paced quickie thriller worthy of a weekend rental.

Grade: B

Comment posted by liz
at 5/7/2007 1:11:00 PM

I loved the movie Red Eye its awsome yea I love it its the best movie ever..lol

Comment posted by OnePumpedNinja
at 2/13/2006 10:51:51 PM

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, the trailer is quite misleading in that it seems that this is some sort of supernatural aerial mishap. And it’s not. I don’t think that it totally detracts from the enjoyment of the movie, but I can see how thinking that Satan is flying American Airlines can be a much more enticing plot premise than some sociopathic pervert who wants to off the Secretary of Whatever.

Comment posted by Jacob
at 2/13/2006 9:15:45 AM

Yeah, I honestly was a little disappointed as well. I was expecting a fantasy type element as well with something like the devil. It was a good movie, the thing I didn’t like is how they advertised. If I went in expecting this type movie, I might have liked it a whole lot more. As it was, it just wasn’t what I thought

Comment posted by David
at 2/10/2006 5:54:36 PM

You were much kinder to this film than I would have been. I hated it. I would not call it a thriller at all. Seeing the preview, I am expecting the devil or a demon or something, or some really suspenceful situation.

I got nothing out of this movie. I just waited for it to end after finding out there was no devil or demon…just some angry guy, and that the Red Eye in the title only refers to the fact that it is a late night flight… That is not what I expected from seeing the trailer. *Big Letdown*