Red Eye (2005) Review

Red Eye (2005)

Red Eye follows Lisa Reisert, who, while on a flight home, meets the charming Jack Rippner, a seeming chance encounter that was planned in order take advantage of Lisa’s hotel clearance in order to assassinate the head of Homeland Security. 

In what was Craven’s best since Scream, Red Eye is an intense, cerebral thriller that falls into the (self titled) slasher-where-no-one-dies genre, confining most of the conflict to a plane on the way to Miami and once again demonstrating Wes’ ability to strike genuine fear in us at the touch of a button. Never the type for subtleties, we’re let on rather quickly that Jackson Rippner (not a coincidence) has an ulterior motive behind befriending Lisa, as evidenced by his killer name and the obvious casting of the terrifyingly scary, Cillian Murphy. His introductory charm soon wears off however, and it’s when that curtain finally drops that elevates this from a good, to excellent thriller. 

The abuser/abusee relationship that Jack and Lisa takes on adds a certain depth and complexity to the film and to Lisa as a character, who already shows her own signs of past abuse, making her subtle but sadistic abuse at the hands of Jack even more claustrophobic as they’re stuck on a plane with nowhere to run and no one to go to. Once we depart the confines of the plane, obviously we lose a little bit of that ingenious spark, rolling right into stalk and slash territory, but it’s still loads of fun, containing lots of self referential, Scream-esque humor and elements that we expect out of Craven. 

We get a very entertaining cast as well, starring Suzie Plakson, Jack Scalia, Angela Paton, Jayma Mays, Brian Cox, Cillian Murphy, and Rachel McAdams. McAdams actually pulls off the final girl type rather well, though it’s Murphy whose chilling and violently personal performance here really sends it over the top. He chews every bit of dialogue so brilliantly, striking such a deep fear from beginning to end. 

Red Eye, directed by Wes Craven, may not hold up much logically going into it’s more popcorn-y finale, but it’s its intelligent ideas and claustrophobic atmosphere that keep you throughly invested for the whole ride, on top of some terrific performances between its two leads. 

8.6/10