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