Red Eye

I hate the word “thriller” as it relates to modern movies. It never really bothered me that thriller was usually an appellation attached to films considered by many to be too sophisticated to be considered horror. After all, they usually end up being nothing more then incredibly benign bores that would serve only to drag horror as a genre even further down then it can manage on its own. To that end, I usually avoid self-styled thrillers, and considering Wes Craven's recent track record I was more then ready to give Red Eye a pass, but the opportunity to watch it presented itself and I would be lying if I didn't say I was grateful for the chance.

For those who don't already know, Red Eye concerns a young woman who must share a seat on an overnight plane trip with a sociopath who needs her help in arranging an assassination. Craven drops all the faux-intellectual posturing and self-referential garbage that have plagued his latest films and takes a workmanlike dive into a wonderfully cliché premise. I'm a great admirer of old school entertainment that doesn't pretend to originality but instead tries to deliver in the execution, and here Craven excels with the material.

Red Eye is a lean, tight, straightforward little movie, where every minor detail is a pivotal part of the plot. The pacing is fantastic. Just as the innocent little set-up at the beginning of the film starts to become numbing, Craven takes the lackadaisical pace and kicks it immediately into terror without a backwards glance. He even manages the difficult task of making the setting of the interior of a plane interesting, even at more then half the film's length. Reining himself seems to be a good exercise for Craven, as the sly, barely noticeable attempts at humour are the perfect asides. I was impressed despite myself.

Despite this, Red Eye wouldn't have been half as enjoyable without the presence of Cillian Murphy, who uses some leftover mojo from his role as The Scarecrow in Batman Begins. A lesser talent would not have been able to keep the protagonist, or the audience for that matter, riveted in their seats for that long. He enlivens the entire film with his performance, showing subtle shades of cool menace coupled with authority and even concern. Murphy punctuates this with quick, brutal scenes of violence, most of which were not only entirely plausible but also had real world repercussions that usually aren't seen in the cinema. The rest of the cast, including Rachel McAdams, comport themselves well, and it's certainly refreshing to see a cat-and-mouse game where the plot doesn't have advance based on the victims making a multitude of stupid mistakes.

All in all, it was certainly refreshing to watch an unpretentious little b-movie that doesn't rely on a twist ending to try and stand out.