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Red Eye
(Dreamworks: 2005)
Red Eye is a suspense movie with a great villain. The villain of this film is the kind of villain that makes you sit
on the edge of your seat as you nervously wonder what his next move will be. He's cruel. He's clever. He's menacing. He’s
determined to complete his mission. And I’m sorry to say that he’s also the only really great thing about the movie.
Jack Rippner (Cillian Murphy) is the villain of this film. His mission is to assassinate the U.S. Secretary of Homeland
Security. His plan is to have the secretary and his family murdered as they enjoy their stay at a selected Florida hotel.
Only one step remains to complete the preparations for the assassination. Jack must convince the hotel manager, Lisa Reisert
(Rachel McAdams), to transfer the government official to a specific room of the hotel.
Needless to say, Lisa isn't exactly eager to comply. While sharing seats on a flight from Dallas to Miami, Jack gives Lisa
an ultimatum – call the hotel and tell her personnel to change the reservations of the government official, or else Lisa's
unsuspecting father will die at the hands of a trained assassin who has been stationed outside of the father's home. While
most of the movie from this point on consists of Jack terrorizing Lisa on the aircraft, the few minutes in which the
ultimatum is revealed actually gives the audience three victims to worry about: the Secretary of Homeland Security, Lisa’s
father, and Lisa herself.
Sadly, Red Eye never gives us the opportunity to care about any of these victims. Before the plot unfolds, the
Secretary of Homeland Security is given about ten seconds of screen time wherein he delivers the tail end of a really bad
speech about diplomacy. Likewise, Lisa’s father, Joe Reisert (Brian Cox), is given minimal screen time in the movie's first
two acts. Even those few seconds of time expose him as a lazy divorcé who apparently just sits around the house all day to
watch television and play golf in his bedroom. Neither of these characters is portrayed as particularly likeable.
The only other victim to consider is Lisa Reisert. Lisa is given more screen time than any other
character in the movie; yet, the audience is never given the opportunity to really understand her character. We learn almost
nothing about this woman in the first two acts of the movie. We do know that she manages a hotel. We know that she has a
divorced father. We know that she's taking a flight to Miami. We soon learn that Rachel McAdams can't act her way off of...
well, off of an airplane. And that just about covers everything. Oh yeah, she did say something about enjoying a
"Seabreeze" cocktail drink. Or was it "Baybreeze"?
Either way, the only reason that I’m given to feel sorry for any of Jack’s victims is that they’re being pursued by an
assassin; and in fact, I think that the victims, particularly Lisa, actually become less likable as the movie progresses.
I’m not going to reveal whether or not any of the victims actually get killed in the movie, but assuming that Jack does
manage to get away with murdering every single important character, I would probably think to myself, "Wow, that’s a
shame. But maybe this means I’ll get to see Cillian Murphy again in a sequel."
Undoubtedly, a great villain is a great asset for a movie to have, but a movie should also have a great victim to provide
a counterbalance to the great villain. Red Eye certainly has a great villain, but there is no great victim to provide
the counterbalance. Aside from a few surprising twists and scares, the villain is the only good reason to see this movie.
Apparently, none of the other characters are important.
Score:
(2 1/2 airplanes out of 5)
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Release Date: 07/19/05
Profanity: Moderate
