I looked, but didn’t see a thread for Wes Craven’s new thriller, Red-Eye. I caught this movie on Friday night and I loved it. Red-Eye stars Rachel McAdams (Mean Girls, Wedding Crashers) and Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later, Batman Begins). I thought Cillian Murphy was the best part about Batman Begins and he is icy perfection in this role - his big blue eyes are almost characters themselves!
I thought the movie was tense and suspenseful and fairly tightly plotted (could only come up with one unexplained plot hole after the movie). The movie really focuses on the interaction between the two leads and their chemistry is outstanding.
Unexplained plot hole
So, Jack needed Lisa to move the guy to a room facing the water. Are we really expected to believe this guy didn’t get an ocean view every time?
Red-Eye came in second last week at the box office, but I hope that good reviews and good word of mouth keep it in the top 10 for a few weeks!
Well, I assumed they moved him to a higher floor–one that featured a prominent terrace–so that it would be an easier target from the boat. I don’t remember the detail about how facing the water was a new feature of the desired room.
The film was a lot of fun, and was something that is quite rare these days–a lean, economical thriiler, whose excellence is in its no-frills approach that manages to deliver the goods without (a) pandering to the audience, or (b) insulting their intelligence. Last year’s Cellular was the same, but quickly died at the b.o. This is a bit more high-profile (in front of the camera and behind), so I hope it does well.
I have always loved Wes Craven, and more to the point, I absolutely adore Cillian Murphy (fake American accent or no). I think the best part about his character in Red Eye is that it’s just so hard to believe somebody with those big innocent eyes could be such an unbelievable bastard.
I really enjoyed it (except for having to tell the lady behind me to shut up toward the end–she’s saying stuff to her friend like “He’s in the shower! No, no, he’s gonna come up behind you! No, he’s definitely in the shower!”), and I’ll probably go see it again–I really do love those eyes.
It was refreshing, though, to see Wes Craven move a little bit away from the blood and gore and into the psychological thriller genre. (Don’t get me wrong–I do love the blood and gore.) I thought that the way the scenes in the plane were shot was absolutely brilliant–I’m not remotely claustrophobic, but that bit in the bathroom, especially, gave such a feeling of no-escape that I could feel my shoulders scrunching up, as if I were in there and were trying to take up less room.
So … yeah. Really good movie. liirogue, if I may make a recommendation, try to get your hands on a copy of Intermission. Great Irish film–the first five minutes are cinematic genius.
My friend and I had an argument on the way home about …
Why Lisa didn’t just let the airport cops catch her and explain everything. I maintain that it would have taken far too long to sort everything out and Keefe and his family would have been toast. Not to mention that somebody as smooth as Jackson probably had some sort of contingency plan–hell, he could have had a badge in his pocket and taken her away in his own custody.
