Movie Reviews

Director Wes Craven is known mainly for his Nightmare on Elm Street and series of horror films and the Scream trilogy, but with Red Eye I think he's shown that he can handle a slightly more 'serious' genre: the psychological thriller.

Okay, well maybe Red Eye isn't necessarily 'serious', but it is an effective and tightly-plotted suspense film, and in that regard it is very well-made. Rachel McAdams plays a hotel manager who's catching a late-night flight home after attending her grandmother's funeral. Cillian Murphy is the 'charming-at-first-and-then-insidiously-creepy' guy she meets at the airport and then finds herself sitting next to on the plane. Coincidence? Of course not! He's actually part of a terrorist organization, and he needs her 'help' in making sure that a high-powered political dignitary staying at her hotel the following day is transferred to a certain room for the purposes of his assassination attempt. She's obviously not too pleased, nor eager to help.

The suspense in Red Eye arises because we, the audience, can’t help but place ourselves in the position of McAdams's character, and wonder "what would we do!?" in the same situation. And to Wes Craven's credit, the film generally works well because -- despite the somewhat contrived and entirely implausible set-up -- it usually turns out that what McAdams does is realistic in the circumstances; and the consequences are, too.