Red Eye Review

I unfortunately won't be able to make it to a theater this week, so I'm taking a brief break from my trek through this summer's films to review the movie I most recently saw. This happens to be Wes Craven's 2005 thriller Red Eye, which stars Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy.

As I mentioned, the film is directed by Wes Craven, who some of you may recognize as the man behind A Nightmare on Elm Street and the Scream series. He takes a different approach from his usual slashers with this gripping, and quite disturbing thriller. The majority of Red Eye takes place on a plane, where a hotel manager (McAdams) is on her way home after she was traveling due to a death in the family. She is kidnapped by a terrorist operative (Murphy) while on a red-eye flight, and he threatens to kill her father if she doesn't cooperate with his plans.

The two leads both give strong performances. McAdams is very endearing in her role and you start to feel a connection with her early on, a connection that remains throughout the film. Murphy is pleasingly menacing. I really enjoyed his performance.

Red Eye is intense. That is largely thanks to Craven's stiff, tense direction. You feel like you're sitting on the plane with the characters. The film is very well directed, and you feel riveted to the screen because of it.

The movie moves along at a brisk pace. Its running time measures just under an hour and a half, which is a perfect amount of time for the story to play out nicely.

As I briefly mentioned before, the film is also disturbing at times. Some of the things Murphy's character does to McAdams' character make you cringe, and he plays a very convincing jerkwad. You really feel for McAdams' character, and you want to stop her from being controlled by this guy as much as she wants to.

Conclusion 

Red Eye is a gripping thriller bolstered by strong performances and tense direction. It moves along at a quick pace, and rivets you from the start. 

Rating: 8/10 

Age suggestion: 13+