Red Eye

Director: Wes Craven Wes Craven

Overview

Terror rides the night skies in this thriller from horror auteur Wes Craven. Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) is a young woman with more than her share of anxieties about flying. However, when circumstances demand she go to Miami, she gathers her nerves and books a seat on a late-night flight. Sitting next to her is a handsome and charming man named Jackson (Cillian Murphy), whom she already met in the airport, but once their jet is safely in the air, Lisa discovers he's not the pleasant traveling companion she imagined. Jackson is part of a terrorist cell plotting to kill the head of Homeland Security, and he's decided to draft Lisa into helping him. While Lisa has no interest in abetting Jackson's plan, he soon reveals he's holding a trump card -- his compatriots are holding Lisa's father hostage, and will kill him if she doesn't cooperate. Red Eye was the first feature film credit for screenwriter Carl Ellsworth, who previously scripted episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Xena: Warrior Princess.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/01/2017
UPC:	0032429279194
Original Release:	2005
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	PARAMOUNT
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:25:00
Sales rank:	3,596

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Rachel McAdams	Lisa Reisert
Cillian Murphy	Jackson Rippner
Brian Cox	Joe Reisart, Lisa's Dad
Jayma Mays	Cynthia
Angela Paton	Nice Lady
Laura Johnson	Blonde Woman
Suzie Plakson	Senior Flight Attendant
Max Kasch	Headphone Kid
Jack Scalia	Charles Keefe
Teresa Press-Marx	Marianne Taylor
Robert Pine	Bob Taylor
Carl Gilliard	Taxi Driver
Mary-Kathleen Gordon	Airline Representative
Loren Lester	Irate Passenger
Philip Pavel	Dallas Ticket Agent
Amber Mead	Dallas Ticket Agent
Dey Young	Dallas Gate Agent,Flight Attendant
Brittany Oaks	Rebecca
Tina Anderson	Rebecca's Mom
Jeanine Jackson	Passenger with Iced Mocha
Joey Nader	Tex-Mex Bartender
Kyle Gallner	Headphone Kid's Brother
Dilva Henry	Newscaster
Monica McSwain	Junior Flight Attendant
Tom Elkins	Pilot
Dane Farwell	Hit Man at Dad's House
Jennie Baek	Keefe's Assistant
Colby Donaldson	Keefe's Head Bodyguard
Adam Gobble	Keefe's Son
Megan Crawford	Keefe's Daughter
C.C. Taylor	Keefe's Bodyguard
Scott Leva	Keefe's Bodyguard
Marc Macaulay	Coast Guard Officer
Skip Crank	Man on Fishing Boat
Mark Cotone	Man on Fishing Boat
Jim Lemley	Man on Fishing Boat
Martin Trees	Male Flight Attendant
Noelle Drake	Coffee Shop Girl
Jenny Wade	Coffee Shop Girl
Alex Edlin	Marine Coordinator
Terry Press	Marianne Taylor
Beth Toussaint	Lydia Keefe
Marco Beltrami	Composer

Technical Credits

Carl Ellsworth

Dan Foos

Wes Craven	Director
Carl Ellsworth	Screenwriter
Chris Bender	Producer
Marianne Maddalena	Producer
Dan Foos	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Wes Craven's Red Eye is an efficient and professional claustrophobic thriller, boosted by a strong, simple premise (along the lines of Speed or Phone Booth) and the director's unassailable skill at creating suspense and sustaining tension. While the focus of the story is two passengers on a commercial flight engaging in a life-or-death battle of wits and will while seated beside each other, screenwriter Carl Ellsworth and Craven open things up by having other, minor characters just involved enough in the action, highlighting both Lisa's (Rachel McAdams) need to connect with an outsider to her ordeal and Jackson's (Cillian Murphy) need to keep her isolated on the crowded plane. Lisa, played for maximum sympathy and audience identification by McAdams, is a surprisingly rich character for such a film, and it's gratifying to watch her natural resourcefulness come to bear as she faces down her pragmatic captor. The way Jackson sees it, he's simply doing his job, and while Lisa's job requires her to salve egos and smooth over mishaps, Jackson arranges to have people killed. With his ice-blue eyes, Murphy is effectively charming and creepy by turns until the movie leaves the plane, at which point things get a bit too ludicrous (not that his elaborate plot is ever quite convincing to begin with) and his performance veers off in an unfortunate over-the-top direction as the cat-and-mouse finale becomes more entrenched in the tropes of the genre. The film's purposefully muddled politics don't help. Still, Red Eye offers an expertly made, enjoyably suspenseful movie experience.