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The Biggest Waste of Brian Cox Ever! The Premise: Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) is travelling home on the last flight of the night (the red eye) to Miami where she lives and works as a hotel manager for a prestigeous hotel after attending the funeral for her late grandmother. Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy) is a mysterious and charming stranger she meets in the airport who as it turns out is not so coincidentally taking the same flight as she is. Rippner's reason for travel is strictly business. It so happens an assassination is planned on the Secretary of Homeland Security while he stays at Lisa's hotel. Rippner needs Lisa to call the hotel and arrange for the Secretary to stay in a different room. If she doesn't comply, he has a man waiting outside her fathers home to kill him. Thoughts: This was one of my few experiences with Wes Craven's (Director) work who is most known for the horrible genre of teenage slasher films I despise. I had dismissed this film in theatres without giving a second thought, and when I finally saw it last night I knew next to nothing of what it was about. From what I vaguely remembered of the previews, and given Craven's reputation, I was honestly expecting Rippner to be a supernatural character such as a vampire. In hindsite, I think 'Vampire on a Plane' woulda been a much better foundation for a film. To call this film's premise shaky is as kind as it is unfair. It's unfair because the core plot points could prove to be an interesting thriller. The problem with this film is how it executes those points. A hotel manager? The Secretary of Homeland Security? Give me a break! Make it the Deputy Director of the FBI and the President of the United States and we have a plotline that warrants all of this hullabaloo. The concept of this film has potential, but how it was staged is just too ridiculous. Are we really to believe that the Secretary of Homeland Security is that important that such an elaborate scheme to assassinate him would be put in place. Are we really to believe that the only way this assassination (which involves missles did I tell you? I won't say anymore) can be pulled off is if the manager of the hotel can get the Secretary to stay in a different room? And who are these nameless caucaisions who want the secretary killed? And why? The premise isn't only shaky, it's totally gutless. It sickens me that Hollywood is so afraid of offending anyone that neither the antagonist nor their motives can in any way reflect real world people, situations or beliefs. It forces me to recall the debacle of the last adaptation of the great Jack Ryan thrillers by Tom Clancy, The Sum of all Fears. In that film, instead of having militant muslim terrorists acquire a nuclear warhead lost by Isreal (which truly is something to fear), they decided to go with Nazi's. Heaven forbid we offend all the militant muslim terrorists of the world by portraying them as the evil stain on humankind that they are. I digress. My point is simply that Red Eye doesn't even go that far. It has no voice. It doesn't tell us anything, and worse, it's too spineless to put a face on fear. There are some good things about the film. First and foremost is the cast. While Rachel McAdams is completely not believable as a manager of a prestigious Miami hotel, that part of her character is more of sidenote and it's a fault of casting more than her acting anyway. Cillian Murphy is very talented, and he has a look that allows him to come off as charming one moment and creepy the next. I still wish he woulda turned out to be a vampire though. Finally we have the legendary Brian "Better than Anthony Hopkins as Hannible Lector" Cox. He's such a great actor, but in this film he's relegated to the most menial of roles. Almost every scene he's in is him answering the phone, being woken up by the phone, or picking up the morning paper. The film is ok in it's first two acts, with the second act being the strongest part of the film where Rachel and Cillian have performances confined mostly to their seats on the plane. It's here that the tension builds, and the performances really hold the scenes. Then comes the third act were the film just breaks down in to complete ludicrousness. The story continues off the plane and gives up completely on being an intellectual thriller. Instead it goes for the action route and follows just about every cliche for a movie of this type. The Verdict: Red Eye has an interesting idea that could have beened turned into something a lot better under a more able screenwriter and director. The actors performances do the best they can to keep this ship afloat. If you can ignore the ridiculous parts of this film which are about as far fetched as your typical network TV thrillers, then you may find some enjoyment your first time through. It's not horrible, but neither is it really good. email this review to a friend
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