Red Eye
Going into this movie, I expected it to be just another
thriller type movie like Wes Craven always puts out with some weird twist to
shake things up a bit and keep you somewhat grossed out, but somewhat entranced
at the same time. And while this movie did keep me entranced and focused on the
film, it didn’t have the strange perspective that we’ve seen in many of his
previous movies. Instead, this movie put a person in a somewhat realistic
situation and let you see how a person could react. The one thing that I wish
about this movie was that I hadn’t known the whole plot before going in. I
believe that the film would have been much more effective had I not known that
Cillian Murphy was the bad guy. But the trailers gave away too much information
and really did in the film before it even got started. Am I saying I didn’t
like the movie? No, far from it. But I simply wish that the marketing of the
movie would have been done differently. Overall, I would have to give Redeye a
7 out of 10.
The Redeye is actually not about Cillian Murphy’s crazy
glassy eyes, but instead is the name of the last flight out for the evening on
the way to Miami where Rachel McAdams resides. She is a hotel worker who apparently does a very
solid job and has some strong pull in her building. Because of this, she knows
all of the people who come and go in her hotel, even those who have some clout
in the political world. Those political figures are the ones that Cillian
Murphy wants to know more about. He works for a group that takes down political
figures and such when the money is right to get the job done. But for his job
to be successful he needs for Rachel to move a certain political figure to a
different room than the one he normally stays in. And to make this happen,
Cillian has a man stationed outside of Rachel’s father’s house that is willing
to kill him if given the signal to do so.
I have spoken before about how solid an actress Rachel
McAdams is, and once again she pulls through with flying colors. The girl can
act. Plain and simple. She really has such great range. After seeing her in
Wedding Crashers, and then going to see her in this, it was really great to see
just how open she is to taking different roles. This movie is her coming out
party. She really shines in this role that could have made many other actresses
seem very shallow and uninteresting. I am not saying that this is a bad role,
but could have been much less had it been another actress taking the part.
This movie is not just about Rachel, but also about Cillian
Murphy who plays our villain. The first 20 minutes of the movie revolve around
her background and seem more like a love story of two people meeting in an
airport. But as soon as the plane takes off, the story takes a much darker
turn. A man who was so nice to her in the airport and bought her drinks and was
very cordial and gentlemanly becomes a very dark and sinister man who will stop
at nothing to accomplish his mission.
I have to say that Cillian Murphy is a very good actor. But
I am afraid that he will always be the villain. His eyes just won’t let him be
the good guy in a movie. I may be wrong and hope that I am, but the guys’ eyes
are just freaky and that makes him a very easy target for the bad guy role. He
has already played the Scarecrow in the newest Batman film, and now has played
the bad guy in this Wes Craven film. It doesn’t get much darker than those two.
After Rachel, who plays Lisa, is on the plane, she confides in Murphy, playing Jackson, that she is
afraid of flying. Compound the fear of flying with the fear of death and the
loss of your father and you have a very scary airplane ride.
There were a handful of small but effective roles thrown in
to add to the film. They could have expanded on these minor characters more,
but it wasn’t necessary and they knew that going into making this film. If they
had gone deeper into the exposition of these characters, then the movie could
have gone a completely different direction. But this movie is about Cillian and
Rachel. These are our main characters and they are where our focus stays for
almost the entire film.
The film is not all good though. There are a few things that
could have been done better. The use of music at certain points in the film was
somewhat distracting and was used as a driving force instead of a background
event. It could very well have been more subtle and turned out more effective,
but at points it did stick out like a sore thumb. Also, the airplane was quite
unbelievable. The plane was in perfect shape and had multiple plasma display
TV’s in the coach cabin. So I can’t imagine what the first class would have
looked like. There is also a married couple that is used for comic relief and
could have been left out completely, but to keep the movie somewhat light to
contrast the darkness of Murphy’s character, they were put in. Their roles were
truly superfluous and could have been dropped to make this a much darker film.
I suppose to give it more of a mass appeal, Craven put in these characters to
appeal to the people who have been dragged there by others who want to see the
film.
There were also a few really neat things that happened in
the movie. The name of one of the boats in the movie is named Rapture. I won’t
say any more about it, but if you see the movie and think about the name of the
boat, it will make sense more and is a neat little tidbit of info. Also, the
head butt scene was very cool and not something that I saw coming. When it
happens the second time, it catches you off guard again, but enjoy it more.
The movie was very good. I really liked it a lot and thought
it was a lot of fun. It was intense and kept you gripping the seat the entire
movie. If you like thriller movies, then I would recommend going to see this
one. It is very good, and also, the way that Murphy and McAdams play off of
each others is very good, and I believe we will see both of these stars go far
in Hollywood.
So I give Redeye a 7 out of 10.