Dir.
Wes Craven, 2005, USA, 85 mins
Cast:
Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy
With the exception of 1999's pedestrian tearjerker, Music of the Heart, Wes Craven has worked almost exclusively within the horror genre for the last three decades. Perhaps given the dogged production history and critical failure of his previous genre effort, the lacklustre werewolf flick Cursed, he has chosen now to venture into the more 'respectable' domains of the psychological thriller.
Rachel McAdams is Lisa, the career-minded member of staff at a swanky Miami hotel, flying home after her late grandmother's funeral. At the airport she meets Jack (Murphy), a seemingly charming young man with whom she shares a drink and a spot of innocent flirtation. Upon boarding the plane, Lisa is pleased to find herself seated next to Jack, but events take a sinister turn when he informs her that he is in fact an operative in an elaborate plot to assassinate a government figure who is staying at Lisa's hotel. Claiming her father is under surveillance and will be murdered if she refuses to aid Jack in his mission, Lisa finds herself trapped at 30,000 feet, desperate to find a way to prevent a murder.
Given the focus on political terrorism and its predominant use of a plane setting, Red Eye has undeniable relevance in a post-9/11 America. Yet Craven's film is surprisingly apolitical in its approach. Jack's motives remain a relative mystery throughout, nor are we ever informed of the political group he works for, or why he is involved with them. Likewise, his target, the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Charles Keefe (Jack Scalia) is never more than an innocent victim, portrayed as a caring family man oblivious of the unfolding drama. Instead Craven keeps the focus largely on Lisa, with the quest to save her father offering the film's emotional drive. While shrewdly exploiting air travel anxieties, the lack of any substantial exploration regarding Jack and Keefe's identities result in a simple 'good guy versus bad guy' film that is too slight and naïve in its vision to be truly satisfying.
Despite such narrative flaws, Lisa's central dilemma is always a compelling one. Craven cranks up the tension very early on and rarely lets up until the film's frantic climax, although given his history one would expect no less. The inescapable claustrophobia of the plane setting expertly heightens the severity of Lisa's situation, with Jack practically on top of her throughout, and is skilfully enhanced with the frequent use of tight close-ups. Only occasionally does the appearance of Cynthia (Jayma Mays), a nervy employee at Lisa's hotel, break the tautness. Evidently included to offer the viewer a spot of comic relief (much like the comedy cops in Craven's controversial Last House on the Left), her presence seems rather unnecessary, and clumsily detracts from the otherwise escalating momentum.
While Craven is determined to affirm that Red Eye is not a horror movie, and is clearly keen to display his talents in another genre, the film is not entirely dissimilar to his previous work. Lisa's improbable resourcefulness echoes many characters in his films (see Nancy elaborate booby traps in A Nightmare on Elm Street), while Murphy's initially convincing psycho spirals out of control into the inexorable monster Craven is renown for creating.
When Craven emerged in the early 1970's with the powerhouse horrors of his debut Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes, he offered films that disregarded previous displays of cinematic on-screen violence in Hollywood. His films portrayed the grim, visceral pain of violence, and its ability to corrupt and debase. While Red Eye is enjoyable and often gripping, the sense of real danger is undeniably missing. It is a fun ride, but from a man capable of so much more, it seems that here Craven is on autopilot.
Michael Blyth
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