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Gather ‘round, kiddies, so your creepy Grampa Jeff can give you some history. Believe it or not, there was a time when some of the finest suspense movies were actually made for television. This was in the mid ‘70’s, when writers like Levinson and Link ruled the airwaves and you couldn’t get away from the name E.W. Swackhamer. These movies were tight and twisty, like uncooked rotini, and didn’t pander to their audience. If you didn’t keep up with the plot or you didn’t get the ending, too damned bad.
Wes Craven’s Red Eye fits so comfortably into that realm, you half expect to see David Janssen or Darren McGavin show up. That would have been cool, seeing as how both of those fine actors are dead, and that would have taken Red Eye into a completely different category: resurrectionist cinema. As it stands, for a major theatrical release, Red Eye is a decent TV movie.
Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams, who is like Jennifer Aniston, only hot and talented) has been having a shitty day. Not only has she just attended her grandmother’s funeral, but her cell phone keeps ringing. Lisa manages an upscale Miami resort and her assistant, Cynthia (scene-stealing standout Jayma Mays) wants to know how to set up for the arrival of new Homeland Security director William Keefe (Jack Scalia). Her dad (the venerable Brian Cox) keeps calling just to see if Lisa is okay. On top of all that, her flight back home is delayed.
Standing in line at the gate, Lisa is stuck behind a guy who is bitching out a poor airline employee about the delay. Lisa stands up for the ticket agent, as does another passenger. This other passenger, Lisa is pleased to discover, is handsome as can be.
As everyone wanders about the airport waiting for the flight, Lisa keeps running into this guy. His name is Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy) and he is a charming devil. He guesses which drink Lisa will order at the bar. There is some flirtation and banter back and forth. It seems as if Lisa may have a good day after all.
When the passengers finally board the plane, Rippner’s seat is right next to Lisa’s. It seems as though fate has brought them together. Which it has, but there will be no knocking of the boots. Rippner is a hit man, assigned to take out the Homeland Security director. If Lisa doesn’t move him to another room where the hit is designated to happen, then Rippner will have Lisa’s father killed. Trapped on an airplane with nowhere to run, Lisa must save her father and prevent the murder of Director Keefe.
Nobody watches a Wes Craven movie for subtle nuance or real filmmaking. He has a workmanlike style and his desperate attempts to make absolutely sure the viewer understands what is happening actually detract from the story. If a person or an item (for example, a monogrammed wallet or a pen) will play a role in the story later on, Craven makes sure to zoom in on it and keep it in close-up longer than necessary. Even the dimmest of viewers can’t help but think, “Hey, I bet that’s important! I should probably make a mental note of that.”
It’s this kind of hand-holding that keeps Red Eye from being the kind of thriller that grabs you by the short hairs and yanks you along for the ride. We are denied the simple pleasure of piecing together even the smallest aspects of the dilemma for ourselves. Craven sabotages the cleverness of the film by pounding you over the head with how clever it is. It’s like having the class genius tell you he got an “A” on the geography test, then shoving his copy of the test in your face. Then ramming it down your shorts and asking you to make sweet love to it.
Prime example: Murphy’s character is named Jackson Rippner. Okay. We get it. That’s cute. Don’t do that again.
The acting is above standard all the way across the board. McAdams’ attempts to stay calm as Murphy tries every mindfuck in the world on her are fun to watch; they play well with and against each other. Jayma Adams is sweet, tough and cute, like teriyaki beef jerky you want to bend over a counter. Keen eyes will spot Robert Pine (Capt. Gertraer from CHiPs) as a grumpy hotel guest.
The transfer, as is the usual from DreamWorks, is good. There was some artifacting during external shots of the airplane and the hotel, but nothing terribly distracting. Expect the surrounds of your home theater system to be more active than usual, as the interior of the plane is expressed spatially quite well. There are all the standard extras, none of which go in-depth enough for a geek like myself.
The main problem with Red Eye is Craven’s direction. If everything hadn’t been so perfectly spelled out, this could have been an M-80 of a movie. As it stands, it’s half a pack of Black Cats. One can easily imagine Red Eye as an NBC Sunday Night Mystery Movie with George Hamilton and Barbara Eden.
With that in mind, wait for this one to show up on television.
