Red Eye Review

Rachel McAdams plays Lisa Reisert – heading back to Miami where she manages customer service for a luxury hotel. Her flight is cancelled and she’s re-scheduled on the Red Eye. In the flight lounge, she’s chatted up by a fellow passenger, Jackson Rippner – Cillian Murphy. Surprise, surprise … he’s seated next to her on board, but it’s soon clear that this is no co-incidence. Rippner is part of a plot to assassinate the Deputy Chief of Homeland Security who’s booked into Lisa’s hotel. If she doesn’t change his room, then Rippner will have her father killed.Oh how the mighty have fallen. The only heightened suspense that director Wes Craven achieves is in the altitude the plane flies at. Rachel McAdams, is a competent actor but she struggles with the mundane and predictable script, and as for Cillian Murphy, his performance was as lightweight as a model aircraft. Red Eye feels more like a 70s tele-movie than a cinematic experience. Screenwriter Carl Ellsworth usually works on TV shows like Buffy and Zena. This is one bumpy ride that doesn’t take off, but its one saving grace is that it’s short – only 85 minutes.