Review of Red Eye (2005) by Will H — 20 Jun 2012
Horror guru Wes Craven steps away from his buckets of blood filmography, and crafts a tight, tense little thriller in Red Eye, that succeeds on almost every level that a film like this could possibly achieve.
It's interesting to see Craven take such a huge departure from his usual work, and it truly does pay off: the man does know how to direct a damn fine thriller. Craven's direction, from the first frame to the last, is terrific, creating several surprisingly tense sequences despite using his usual horror-movie tropes.
He actually manages to take said tropes, and transpose them into a different genre, and in the case of Red Eye, it really works. Carl Ellsworth's script is also quite good, packing a lot of action, character, tension, and excitement into a mere 85 minute runtime.
Jackson's plan is laid out in a slow, deliberate, and extremely unsettling way, and Lisa's reaction to it is both completely organic and harrowing. It doesn't hurt to have two extremely talented thespians in your lead roles either, and Craven succeeds in not wasting either of them.
Rachel McAdams gives a very frightened and convincing performance as hotel manager Lisa Reisert, who feels surprisingly well-developed and real for a thriller of this nature. Her character should be a blank slate, but McAdams manages to make her likable and burdened, as well as resourceful in a horrifying situation.
Cillian Murphy is one of the best at playing silently creepy and occasionally over-the-top bad guys (just look at Batman Begins for proof of this), and he delivers here as well, making Jackson Rippner (geddit?) a very collected yet unhinged figure.
Marco Beltrami gives generic but tense thriller music, Robert Yeoman bathes the movie in tones based on scenery, and Patrick Lussier's editing makes sure not a single frame is wasted. Such a spare thriller should not be this good, but almost as if its own modesty was aware of itself, Red Eye manages to rise above most genre fare to become a fun, tense, and extremely watchable movie.
Kudos to Craven for going so far outside his wheelhouse.
This review of Red Eye (2005) was written by Will H on 20 Jun 2012.
Red Eye has generally received positive reviews.
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