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RED EYE (Wes Craven)




"Manages To Keep The Audience Entertained For It's Short Time Span."

A young woman who works at a hotel is on her way home from her grandmother's funeral. While her plane is delayed, she encounters a young good looking man by the name of Jack. Although Jack is not all the he appears to be. After the thread for the life of her father, the woman does everything Jack tells her to...including pulling some strings for the assassination of a politician. Can she get escape her kidnapper, save the politician and her father in time? Wes Craven revived the horror genre with a little film by the name of SCREAM. Countless films later on down the road used the same formula, but did not see the same success. After 2 more sequels and a crappy werewolf flick, Craven uses his talents to bring thrills this time, instead of screams. Red Eye is this years sleeper hit of a thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It does have it's faults, mainly with the plot, but manages to keep the audience entertained for it's short time span.

Red eye clocks in around 80 or so minutes, so it has a lot to fit in with that time period. Craven is able to map out the film and give the characters a good enough time of an introduction so that we can enjoy the rest of the film on the edge of our seats. Even with s good chunk of the film being on a plane, it uses it's suspense well. Unfortunately with every film on a plane, it's hard to take some of it seriously, Red Eye is no exception, but it does do it better then Flighplan.

Red Eye is a step up for Craven after a few stinkers, and is not too bad of a film. It has a strong young cast headed by the beautiful and talented Rachel McAddams, who is on a hot streak. Cillian Murphy plays villains so well, his cold blue eyes are haunting enough, not to mention his mysterious face. He is the perfect choice for Jack and after this performance and his turn in as the Scarecrow for Batman Begins, I'd rather much see him play villains then hero's...case in point 28 days later.Brian Cox is McAddams father, he doesn't have much of a role, it could be viewed as a cameo.

As soon as the plane lands it's a non-stop chase fiasco, running through terminals, in cars, and through a house. Whether or not any part of it is actually believable is to be debated, but it can be forgivable. In this type of film you would expect the old clichés to happen, such as a battery dying on a cell phone in the oh so desperate time of need.

But there is only so much that can be forgiven. When you're on a plan and you head butt someone and knock them out cold...someone on the plane must have been able to notice something. The only person to actually notice something is a little girl...that serves no purpose to the story what-so-ever. Her tripping the bad guy could have been axed and instead of him have a hard time getting through the crowd.No secret service agent would let a room change at the last minute, regardless of what the politician and the family have to say or even after the room is checked. Especially when the windows are so huge a sniper could pick them off one by one.

Red Eye is a film that is a rental, when you're in the mood for a good time and do not want to think very much. If you go into this film analyzing it, then you'll be laughing throughout and you'll be disappointed with the results. Instead enjoy it for what it is...a thriller with car chases and things that go boom.

6/10