 "Photo: Redeye.com")
Gripping. Thrilling. Exhilarating. An edge-of-your-seat gripping thriller that exhilarates you ... No, I am sorry to say that none of these movie review clichés applies when describing "Red Eye," Wes Craven's latest debacle.
The movie's initial exposition feels like a sappy romance where boy meets girl in an airport, share a drink and sit next to each other on the plane. But before you think this is another film adaptation of a Nicolas Sparks novel and go running for a box of Kleenex, there is a twist; the boy in this love story, Jack Rippner (a Jack the Ripper pun fully intended), turns out to be a hit-man blackmailing Lisa, a hotel concierge, into relocating a political figure to a room with a grenade launcher aimed at it.
That leaves Lisa to try to tip off the flight crew and passengers without Jack finding out because he has her father held hostage. Sound intense? I suppose it ought to, but the film fails to thrill at every desperate twist and surprising turn.
Cillian Murphy, who played my favorite Batman villain, the Scarecrow in "Batman Begins," stars with Rachel McAdams, who may have made you laugh in "Mean Girls," cry in "The Notebook," or laugh and cry in "Wedding Crashers."
Perhaps these two up-and-coming stars thought it would be a good career move to work with an established director who has been at it for over 30 years. But when that director is Wes Craven (best known for "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and the "Scream" trilogy), who has made his affinity for the B-rate obvious, I would consider this a step backward in their careers.
I have heard the movie pitched as a Hitchcock-like take on the post 9/11 air travel and terrorism situation. I would like to think this would make Hitchcock turn over in his grave. When contrasting a new film with great ones from the past I think it is important to make a distinction between classic and trite; a few cheap scares and an intense claustrophobic situation do not merit admittance into the hall of fame. But if watching someone get stabbed in the throat by a novelty pen or stabbed in the leg by a high-heel is your thing, maybe "Red Eye" is right for you.
So what would compensate for the film's lack of thrills and general mediocrity? Maybe Survivor: Australia's Colby Donaldson playing a small role. Or how about ending the movie with a lame joke?
Maybe this movie would have worked if it were based on a Tom Clancy book. All insults aside, I found the movie borderline entertaining so long as you take it with a grain of salt. But I never felt like I was "on the edge of my seat."
I'd recommend you watch the movie trailer, which basically is a two-minute-and-fifteen-second version of the film, and then plug in whatever generic "thriller" ending you want, and you'd have "Red Eye," and a couple of extra bucks in your wallet.
Rating: 2 stars (out of 4)
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