‘Red Eye’: Flying paranoid (2005)

(Published Sept. 14, 2005, PDI-Entertainment)

By Oliver M. Pulumbarit
Contributor

A slightly different take on hostage-taking and paranoia, “Red Eye” is timely with its not-so-sneaky message of female empowerment and the dangers of technology-aided terrorism.

The new Wes Craven thriller’s minimalist sets are cramped and confining, which immediately create tension between its two main characters. The claustrophobic airplane scenarios create genuine interaction between two strangers, cheery hotel employee Lisa (Rachel McAdams) and gabby businessman Jackson (Cillian Murphy), whose seemingly random meeting at an airport escalates into a hostage drama in the skies. Yes, we’ve seen this idea before in different incarnations as “Ransom,” “Phone Booth,” “Dead Calm” and most recently, “Cellular.” “Red Eye” is a chop suey merging of those films at times, and Craven’s teen-slasher hit “Scream” by the end, so it’s definitely far from unique.

But what gives it its own distinctive imagery are the flight drama scenes, where Lisa is coerced into making a crucial call using the plane’s high-tech phone service, as well as the suffocating proximity of the two characters. They’re seatmates in a fully booked red eye (late night/overnight) flight, but Jackson ’s careful planning prevents her from seeking help. It’s also notable that the movie’s stars made the whole trip viewable and credible on our end.

McAdams has recent radically different portrayals in “The Notebook” and “Mean Girls,” while Murphy has appeared in “28 Days Later” and “Batman Begins.” The pair’s versatility is useful in giving their characters here a required duplicity. They get to explore character transformations throughout the film, which makes up for its missing element of surprise. Yes, we can see the snappy comebacks and fatal mistakes coming miles away, but McAdams and Murphy stop the thing from degenerating into a yawn-fest.

If there’s a pattern that can be discerned from Craven’s recent films, it’s his careful attention at shaping distraught young women into decisive heroines. He does that well with Lisa here. The supposed victim overcomes her tribulations, baits her oppressor into her own element and, well, she’s expectedly a better, wiser person by the movie’s end.

“Red Eye” is only about an hour and twenty minutes long, which is a little surprising because it actually feels stretched out almost like real time during the airplane scenes. In any case, it’s another example of celluloid art predictably imitating life, but with a requisite fairy tale resolution.