RED EYE (2005)

Country Of Origin: USA

USA Release: Friday, August 19, 2005 (Wide Theatrical)

How I Saw It: Family Member's DVD

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for Language and Violence

Running Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Directed by: Wes Craven

Written by: Carl Ellsworth

Starring: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox

 Wes Craven's talent has taken a turn for the worst in the last decade. Considering his last truly amazing film was SCREAM (from the 90's). His last two efforts CURSED and MY SOUL TO TAKE have been utter failures. Does RED EYE fair any better?

 The story follows Lisa and Jackson. Lisa boards a plane (Red Eye flight, hence the name) only to sit next to the polite, extremely nice gentleman who she had met a few times earlier in the airport. This gentleman (who goes under the name Jackson) turns out to be involved in an assasination plot that she has suddenly become a part of. She must co-operate with this murderous psycho in order to save her father's life and her own, but can she live with being a part of someone else's death.

 RED EYE sounds like something Alfred Hitchcock would have thought of and created into a film himself. The plot sounds really intense and in some points is insanely suspenseful. However, as the film reaches the last third, it gets too ridiculous, over-the-top, and laughable to be believable (more on that later). The performance by Cillian Murphy is great. He proves he is talented and scary as the bad guy. Rachel McAdams is good as the scared and troubled victim and Brian Cox is momentarily in the movie, so you can't really judge his performance.

 The direction by Craven is solid and the dialogue is mostly realistic. Now we come to the major flaw, the last 30 minutes are absolutely ludicrous. So much so, that it attempts to kill the first hour of suspense. Our main character turns into a badass action hero with absolutely no warning or hints whatsoever. It was just too over-blown. I rolled my eyes more than once in the last 30 minutes of this film. Just so utterly ridiculous and unbelievable!

Grade: C+: This one came close to redeeming Wes Craven as a master of horror. With a dynamite Hitchcockian premise that had some real suspense behind it, the last third of the film makes you want to yell at Wes Craven and the writer and say "Why did you have to ruin it?!" Overall, this was an okay film that didn't have enough talent or creativity to make the premise last more than an hour before attempting to ruin it. This is worth a slow rainy day, but just expect it to end up as a time-waster and nothing more.