Red Eye
Wes Craven was coming off of the disastrous “Cursed” production when he directed this small and tense thriller. It became a gem in the summer of 2005, and was one the director’s best films of his late career. The screenplay by Carl Ellsworth is a case of straightforward premise, smart execution, and giving its lead actors room to breathe even when the action does. This isn’t written as a “real time” thriller, but it has a ticking clock we’re always aware of, proof that you don’t need a gimmick to create tension- just a filmmaker who knows how to get strong performances out of actors, and can exploit location for suspense.
The history of Dreamworks Pictures is a fascinating one. Whether you include Steven Spielberg’s films in that or not, they often worked in high-concept fare driven by filmmakers knowing their craft, and also making sure they can appeal to a wide audience. Craven is obviously a horror filmmaker, but his skills are well-suited for this movie. And in Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy, he had two up-and-coming actors who were on the way up this year; Murphy began his collaboration with Christopher Nolan in “Batman Begins” the same year, and McAdams had just been in the comedy smash “Wedding Crashers.”
McAdams stars as Lisa, a hotel manager who’s been in Dallas for a family death, and she’s getting ready to go home. She’s really good at problem solving and customer service, and even when it’s not her job, she tries to help others achieve that. While in line trying to get checked in for her red eye flight home, she meets Jackson (Murphy), a charming man with whom she strikes up conversation with. They are on the same flight, and same row. That’s not a coincidence- turns out Jackson is a terrorist trying to get Lisa to facilitate an assassination, or her father (Brian Cox) dies.
This film is a pressure cooker which means that Lisa has to figure out how to facilitate a solution for herself. Yes, especially in the third act, this film gets insane, but Craven knows how to ring this script of its tension. It helps that so much of that is generated by the work from McAdams and Murphy, and that the film is largely about them on the plane. I wouldn’t put this as great acting from either, but they know what’s required of the material, and the space in it each one- respectively- belongs in. Craven delivers the goods, even when the third act threatens to go off the rails, his craft- and the score by Marco Beltrami- keep it moving effortlessly. This is a very fun film to watch, even if it’s empty calories popcorn cinema. I’m fine with that.
