Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10624 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-01-30
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 82 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Red Eye is the latest movie from Wes Craven, whose most recent successes, the Scream trilogy, give some flavour of what to expect here.

The action once again centres on a strong, young woman, this time called Lisa and played by Rachel McAdams (recently seen in Wedding Crashers), who spends all her time managing a busy hotel. On a flight back from a funeral, she finds herself sat next to a wealthy businessman, played by Cillian Murphy (whose performance remains one of the many highlights of Batman Begins. He has an agenda however, that involves using Lisa to clear the way for a contract killing at her hotel. With her father at home under constant watch, and sat next to a man threatening to kill him, the stage is set for a healthy little thriller.

And that’s just what Red Eye is. While some distance away from Craven’s best work, it has some big pluses in its favour. Firstly, it’s a very swift ride that doesn’t outstay its welcome, speeding through plot developments that others in the genre would sit and ponder on for some time. It’s also got the charm of Rachel McAdams in the lead role, who pitches well against the sneer and creepiness of Cillian Murphy. And finally, it delivers good old fashioned Friday night fun, without having pretensions to do anything else.

So while it’s hardly a defining thriller in any way, nor is it without one or two unintentional giggles, Red Eye works surprisingly well. In the hands of a lesser director, it’s got all the ingredients for straight-to-video hell, but with Craven at the helm and his two leads performing well, it’s a movie that happily punches above its weight.--Simon Brew

Synopsis
A hitman terrorises Lisa, a passenger on board a flight to Miami. His business is killing and his latest contract involves a wealthy businessman. He needs Lisa's help to fulfil the contract.

Customer Reviews

Mile high thriller
For an hour, this is one of the tightest, edge of your seat thrillers ever made. Wes Craven takes his time setting up the characters of Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy, their expectant meeting, and the set up on the plane.

In fact, it fairly plods along, but in such an interesting way you won't mind. You're so interested in these characters, that the factthat the film doesn't really start until 30 minutes in is irrelevant - because when it gets good, it gets very good.

Putting it simply, so not to spoil any new viewers, Murphy's character hold McAdams character hostage on the plane without anybody knowing. As she tries to alert people to her fate, her plans get ingeniously better, and its keep you guessing how she'll be able to escape.

Murphy particularly is brilliant, all easy friendliness covering up a bonkers mad criminal. McAdams too is spot on as lady in peril. Half the fun is watching the events unfold on the plane, and how Murphy's character will stop them.

However, come the ending, Craven resorts to his tried and tested slasher material. Although decent, it lacks the sinister edge of the previous hour, and becomes far moretraditional. The airport chase is absurd, and loses the film it's fifth star. How can you run unchecked through an airport without going through passport control or without the guards clocking on?

Still, the finale in the house is jump worthy material, and makes up for the slightly soggy airport section. Different, fresh and exciting, this was a real surprise treat, and I would highly recommend it for some Friday night easy entertainment.

Reasonable Thriller
I wasn't expecting much from this film, some of Wes Craven's recent films have been a little below par and I was almost sure this was going to be the same. How glad I am to say then that it was actually a very serviceable thriller. Cillian Murphy plays Jackson Rippner, a nasty but intelligent piece of work who needs to get a job done. Rachel McAdams plays Lisa Reisert, she is the person who can help Jackson do his job. Most of the action takes place on a late night flight but don't let that put you off. It is because of this that the film is a step above others, it uses your mind to get the film across and not fancy stunts or gory violence. Murphy is excellent as the bad guy, you sense real danger from him hidden under a velvet suave exterior.

All in all this was a nice surprise and at only about 80 mins long it flys by. Well worth a watch.

"Bad things happen to good people"
Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) is a stressed out girl. She's just been to her grandmother's funeral in Texas and now she's returning home to Miami, back to her job as a luxury hotel manager. While she talks her flustered assistant manager (Jayma Mays) through a minor crisis on her cell phone, she also finds time to talk with her father (Brian Cox), whom she loves dearly and constantly worries about; she can't wait to reconnect with him once she's home.

Lisa's a solitary kind of girl, coolly professional, impeccably focused, and fiercely resolute. She's constantly living by the mantra that the customer is always right. Meanwhile, at the airport, it's dark and stormy, so the red eye flight has been delayed. Whilst Lisa waits in line at the check-in counter, she strikes up a conversation with a charming fellow passenger, Jackson (Cillian Murphy). They meet later for drinks in the airport bar and again on the plane when they discover they are seated in the same row.

Yet there is something in the steely stare of his pale blue eyes and his overly calm manner that unnerves Lisa, although she just can't quite put her finger on it. Her hesitations are proved accurate, because it doesn't take long, right after the bumpy takeoff, for Jackson to drop his affable nice-guy pose and reveal his true colours. In reality, Jackson is part of a terrorist cell that is planning assassinate the deputy secretary of homeland security, who will check into Lisa's hotel the next morning.

Lisa must do exactly as Jackson instructs or a killer standing by at the Miami home of her father will murder her dad. Jackson calmly demonstrates to Lisa that summoning help from any of the airline staff or passengers will not be helpful, and will unequivocally endanger her father. For now, she is trapped in her seat, an unwilling accomplice of this strangely Machiavellian man, who has so wickedly deceived her.

There's no doubt that Red Eye reeks of B-grade sensibilities, more suitable to late night cable television, something perhaps on Lifetime, a sort of TV movie, rather than a fully-fledged feature film. Viewers will also have to suspend disbelief as the various machinations of the plot are played out.

It would have been far easier for the assassins to just hire a killer who could pose as a hotel maid, and it's a bit strange that Lisa is the only person in the hotel who can change the room allocations. Also, Jackson doesn't come across as a very good killer, for reasons that soon become apparent as the narrative progresses.

The logic of the film seems just to stretched and out of place, but luckily director Wes Craven keeps the proceedings appropriately fast-moving thanks to his expert sense of pacing and attention to detail. Red Eye gets the feeling of plane travel right, from the quiet that often descends upon takeoff to the harried flight attendants who fight to keep smiling even when annoyed, and the scenes in the aircraft have a real feeling of Hitchcockian claustrophobia.

The acting is generally good, the standout being the lovely Rachel McAdams who makes a terrific heroine for this story, and imbues her character with just the right mix of the vulnerable and the gusty. Lisa possesses a mysterious past that Jackson manages to exploit, but she also has a fierce determination to foil Jackson's plot. Murphy is pure malevolence, using his unusual face and physical presence to suggest all sorts of nasty surprises.

Red Eye perhaps lacks the polish and star wattage of the Jodie Foster film Flightplan, which also used airline interiors to create suspense, but this film has a slick energy and it definitely does a much better job at keeping up the suspense throughout. Red Eye is strictly B-grade fare, but it has a mischievous intelligence and enough genuine tension to make it well worth a look. Mike Leonard January 06.