Post by Bartwald on Nov 24, 2005 12:13:55 GMT -5
RED EYE (2005)
Grade: 7,5/10
Wes Craven's name has been whispered with less and less excitement lately; not only did he chill all horror-lovers with the oh-so-ambitious piece Music Of The Heart but he had to add the insult of Cursed to it all: the film that was supposed to be Craven's return to the area o postmodern horror turned out to be a cliched story sporting laugh-out-loud funny special effects. The director, not that eager to praise Cursed himself, promised that the upcoming new film, Red Eye, will be a far better effort - smarter, better made and one that will not die because of the budget problems. He must have lied at some point?
„Red Eye” is a plane that is supposed to take Lisa (Rachel McAdams) from Dallas to Miami. Self-confident, intelligent and sexy, the girl clearly caught the eye of a fellow passenger Jack (Cillian Murphy). However, not wanting to be perceived as a nuisance, Jack gets out of Lisa's way while waiting for the plane. Situation changes when the two finally get on the plane, as it turns out they sit next to one another. Contrary to what one might think, after the airport introduction, Jack's mind is not on seducing Lisa but on... killing her father (Brian Cox). Unless Lisa does what Jack tells her to do. But doing THIS would mean killing another man. Will the girl decide to off a stranger in order to save her father? Or will she risk trying to save both of them? And, you know, since she's already in the air, sitting next to a die-hard psycho - what the hell is there for her to do?!
Making such films - ones that take place in a confined space - is always challenging. You have to have your lens on the same two people for most of the time, you've got to spice the script up with twists that will actually BE surprising for the audience, the two actors have to make their interaction interesting enough for everyone to keep on listening to them... and the director? Why, he has to find some sort of way to make all the factors - acting, photography, score, twists and turns - go well together and force the viewers to suspend their belief and step into the fictional world.
Let's start with the most clearly visible thing here: the acting. Rachel McAdams emanates self-confidence from the very first scene, keeping our eyes glued to the screen and promising us much more than the usual female in distress antics. That McAdams is a pretty girl is not a bad thing, either. Then Cillian Murphy appears. Just watch carefully the scene of the first meeting of the two: McAdams does a great job playing this determined but also kind-hearted character, while Murphy adds this feeling of there's-something-uncanny-lurking-here to his Jack. Strangely enough, if you watch Jack and Lisa together, you can feel that, in a way, they belong to each other like Yin and Yang do - provided we didn't know this is a Wes Craven film, some hot sex scenes could be expected right after this airport introduction. Also, neither of the actors has problems with the "character transformation" moments the script calls for. Alright, so Lisa may be perceived as too heroic, while Jack will most probably be too devilish for some but it's not my personal problem, is it? When you have two good actors onscreen throughout (almost) the full running time of the film, it may turn out interesting to try and ask them to do something more than just play common, predictable people. It's a thin line between entertaining OTT acting and annoying OTT acting but Craven keeps his actors on the right side of it.
But even with actors as praised as they are in this review, Red Eye would not be half as good if it didn't have decent score (it sometimes changes this modest film into an all-out action flick!) or the script that is full of genuine surprises (I really admire the scriptwriter's ability to think of enough twists to morph the apparently simple premise into a gripping thriller).
Congratulations to Craven, then, for making a film that will literally take your breath away. And it's a good thing he managed to make us suspend belief at the very beginning of it all because if one decided to watch Red Eye without entering its world, they would surely find plotholes galore here. And the nearer the end, the more of them is flying around. Obviously we could talk about them all here - Why did Lisa do THIS? or Why the hell didn't Jack think about THAT?! - but I don't think it's necessary. First of all - it would make this review spoiler-heavy; secondly - most of these plotholes hit you some time after watching the film, after you free yourself from its magic grip. And although it is true that Red Eye would score one point more had it not been for these logical flaws, it still is a thrilling ride that will make you blind you to its shortcomings.
Grade: 7,5/10
Wes Craven's name has been whispered with less and less excitement lately; not only did he chill all horror-lovers with the oh-so-ambitious piece Music Of The Heart but he had to add the insult of Cursed to it all: the film that was supposed to be Craven's return to the area o postmodern horror turned out to be a cliched story sporting laugh-out-loud funny special effects. The director, not that eager to praise Cursed himself, promised that the upcoming new film, Red Eye, will be a far better effort - smarter, better made and one that will not die because of the budget problems. He must have lied at some point?
„Red Eye” is a plane that is supposed to take Lisa (Rachel McAdams) from Dallas to Miami. Self-confident, intelligent and sexy, the girl clearly caught the eye of a fellow passenger Jack (Cillian Murphy). However, not wanting to be perceived as a nuisance, Jack gets out of Lisa's way while waiting for the plane. Situation changes when the two finally get on the plane, as it turns out they sit next to one another. Contrary to what one might think, after the airport introduction, Jack's mind is not on seducing Lisa but on... killing her father (Brian Cox). Unless Lisa does what Jack tells her to do. But doing THIS would mean killing another man. Will the girl decide to off a stranger in order to save her father? Or will she risk trying to save both of them? And, you know, since she's already in the air, sitting next to a die-hard psycho - what the hell is there for her to do?!
Making such films - ones that take place in a confined space - is always challenging. You have to have your lens on the same two people for most of the time, you've got to spice the script up with twists that will actually BE surprising for the audience, the two actors have to make their interaction interesting enough for everyone to keep on listening to them... and the director? Why, he has to find some sort of way to make all the factors - acting, photography, score, twists and turns - go well together and force the viewers to suspend their belief and step into the fictional world.
Let's start with the most clearly visible thing here: the acting. Rachel McAdams emanates self-confidence from the very first scene, keeping our eyes glued to the screen and promising us much more than the usual female in distress antics. That McAdams is a pretty girl is not a bad thing, either. Then Cillian Murphy appears. Just watch carefully the scene of the first meeting of the two: McAdams does a great job playing this determined but also kind-hearted character, while Murphy adds this feeling of there's-something-uncanny-lurking-here to his Jack. Strangely enough, if you watch Jack and Lisa together, you can feel that, in a way, they belong to each other like Yin and Yang do - provided we didn't know this is a Wes Craven film, some hot sex scenes could be expected right after this airport introduction. Also, neither of the actors has problems with the "character transformation" moments the script calls for. Alright, so Lisa may be perceived as too heroic, while Jack will most probably be too devilish for some but it's not my personal problem, is it? When you have two good actors onscreen throughout (almost) the full running time of the film, it may turn out interesting to try and ask them to do something more than just play common, predictable people. It's a thin line between entertaining OTT acting and annoying OTT acting but Craven keeps his actors on the right side of it.
But even with actors as praised as they are in this review, Red Eye would not be half as good if it didn't have decent score (it sometimes changes this modest film into an all-out action flick!) or the script that is full of genuine surprises (I really admire the scriptwriter's ability to think of enough twists to morph the apparently simple premise into a gripping thriller).
Congratulations to Craven, then, for making a film that will literally take your breath away. And it's a good thing he managed to make us suspend belief at the very beginning of it all because if one decided to watch Red Eye without entering its world, they would surely find plotholes galore here. And the nearer the end, the more of them is flying around. Obviously we could talk about them all here - Why did Lisa do THIS? or Why the hell didn't Jack think about THAT?! - but I don't think it's necessary. First of all - it would make this review spoiler-heavy; secondly - most of these plotholes hit you some time after watching the film, after you free yourself from its magic grip. And although it is true that Red Eye would score one point more had it not been for these logical flaws, it still is a thrilling ride that will make you blind you to its shortcomings.
