CORPORATE LINE: From director Wes Craven (the “Scream” franchise) comes “Red Eye,” a suspense thriller at 30,000 feet, starring Rachel McAdams (“The Notebook,” “Wedding Crashers”) and Cillian Murphy (“Batman Begins,” “28 Days Later”).
Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) hates to fly, but the terror that awaits her on the night flight to Miami has nothing to do with a fear of flying.
Upon boarding the plane, Lisa is pleasantly surprised to find that she is seated next to Jackson (Cillian Murphy), the seemingly charming man with whom she had shared a drink—and perhaps even a brief flirtation—in the airport terminal. But moments after takeoff, Jackson drops his façade and menacingly reveals the real reason he’s on board: He is an operative in a plot to kill the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security…and Lisa is the key to its success. If she refuses to cooperate, her own father will be killed by an assassin awaiting a call from Jackson.
Trapped within the confines of a jet at 30,000 feet, Lisa has nowhere to run and no way to summon help without endangering her father, her fellow passengers and her own life. As the miles tick by, Lisa knows she is running out of time as she desperately looks for a way to thwart her ruthless captor and stop a terrible murder.
THE REVIEW: There are holes a mile wide in the plot—and yet Red Eye does a great job of keeping our focus on the heroine and away from the plot. It is easy to get locked into Lisa’s situation and taken along for the ride—that is if you can check your brain at the door.
Rachel McAdams does a great job of combining intelligence and beauty. It’s too bad that for all McAdams apparent intelligence you wonder why Craven seemed to leave his behind. And example; why is there so little protection for an individual who is supposed to be a high ranking government official?
FRANKLY: As ridiculous as most of Red Eye’s plot is it’s still a thrill. What is interesting, and perhaps in a great way, is how the commercial shows only scenes in a plane while most of the action happens thereafter.
+ Charlie Craine
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