August 19, 2005

RED EYE is a simple thing: a tight and well-made PG-13 thriller, nothing deep, but entertaining to just about anybody. And it happens to be the only movie like that directed by the late great Wes Craven, and he made it post-SCREAM trilogy using all those chops gained from shooting Woodsboro scrapes and chases. But it’s really in more of a suspense vein than a horror one, and it starts out feeling like a DIE HARD type movie, with quick shots depicting some so-far indecipherable sinister plot (the stealing of a wallet, the preparation and delivery of a mysterious crate), and establishing a set of characters in the bustle of the airport while a bunch of flights are delayed.

Lisa (Rachel McAdams, also the primary victim in WEDDING CRASHERS) was in Dallas for her grandma’s funeral, she’s headed home for Miami and already receiving calls from work. But she’s a self-declared “people pleaser, 24-7” so she doesn’t mind helping flustered hotel employee Cynthia (newcomer Jayma Mays, later in the SMURFS and PAUL BLART franchises) placate irate regulars the Taylors (Robert Pine and Teresa Press-Marx).

It’s easy to see that most of this is setting us up with important information, especially when they discuss preparations for a suite for Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Charles Keefe (Jack Scalia, FEAR CITY), who we also see on the TV in the airport. But that’s part of the fun of a movie like this: studying how the machinery works, watching the pieces all moving closer together until they connect.

The villain is one Jackson Rippner (he points out that it’s a ridiculous name), played by Cillian Murphy, our friend from BATMAN BEGINS. It’s brilliant casting because it understands Murphy’s eyes are both dreamy and creepy and should be used for both in one movie. Craven recognizes that we know he’s the bad guy (Marco Beltrami’s score wouldn’t lie to us) so it’s very uncomfortable seeing him talk to Lisa in line at check-in, end up having a drink with her at the bar, making conversation, being charming. I still don’t think it serves much if any purpose to his plan, it’s just a way to make it more painful when he reveals he’s not just some guy she talked to and turned out to be sitting next to her, he’s the guy who has someone watching her dad (Brian Cox, FOR LOVE OF THE GAME), ready to harm him if she doesn’t make the phone call they want her to.

Despite her usual philosophy, Lisa does not want to please this particular people, so it’s a battle of wills as she finds ways to delay making the call, tries to signal for help, etc. The simplicity of the scenario and the location help Craven squeeze out plenty of stress and discomfort as she struggles to avoid giving in while having to pretend to others everything is normal. And Craven establishes a whole network of other passengers who are mostly unnamed and unimportant but do enough to register as characters – for example we see an unaccompanied minor named Rebecca (Brittany Oaks, “Thing Two” from THE CAT IN THE HAT) noticing things going on and being suspicious of Rippner before ultimately (spoiler) tripping him to help Lisa escape. Good kid.

Like SPEED (spoiler) it does eventually arrive at a destination for a different type of action. Though this is a different genre for Craven it’s hard to say it’s a huge stretch from what he’s known for, and it’s kind of thrilling when – having already been terrorized, threatened, head-butted, forced to do Rippner’s bidding and play along as he tells the flight attendant that she’s just emotional – Lisa gets to follow in the g.o.a.t. final girl tradition of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET’s Nancy Thompson for the climax. She doesn’t quite set booby traps but it’s a similar concept of the monster invading the sanctity of her childhood home and her using the home field advantage to overcome him in a ruthless battle. It really does feel like a non-fighter overcoming a professional by digging deep into herself and letting loose on the motherfucker. She doesn’t suddenly have fighting prowess.

Also there’s a real good falling-down-the-stairs stunt. I don’t know for sure she did that fall, but MacAdams’ stunt double is Sonja Munsterman (Summer Glau’s double on Firefly and in SERENITY). Stunt coordinator is Joel Kramer (Arnold’s double on COMMANDO, RAW DEAL, PREDATOR and THE RUNNING MAN who moved up to stunt coordinator for RED HEAT, TWINS, TOTAL RECALL, KINDERGARTEN COP, T2, LAST ACTION HERO, TRUE LIES, JUNIOR, ERASER, and JINGLE ALL THE WAY and also became Michael Mann’s guy starting with HEAT).

It does occur to me now that it kinda seems like old hippie Craven had to somewhat buy into the system for this one. We see a clip of Keefe’s controversial tough talk on TV and it makes him seem like some macho asshole, but former cheerleader (we see her uniform in dad’s closet) Lisa swears he’s “a good man” and nothing else in the movie says otherwise. Of course 2005 was only a few years into the reign of Homeland Security, long before its current days as a paramilitary gang terrorizing minorities for a deranged pedophile reality show host, but it was already seen by many of us as a scary organization with an Orwellian name, so it’s kind of un-Craven-like to just present them as the good guys.

But, you know. It’s a quick little thriller, they probly weren’t assassinating him for good reasons, they shouldn’t’ve tried to blow up his kids, and especially shouldn’t’ve fucked with Lisa. And my original review was correct in pointing out the wisdom of Rippner not caring about the motive for the assassination: “Cillian is just doing his job, he doesn’t give a shit about the politics and, even better, doesn’t bother to brag about that he doesn’t give a shit about the politics.“

I’m not surprised that I zeroed in on the customer service aspect of the story, and it’s funny because I didn’t quite remember how things would turn out. I was genuinely in suspense as to whether or not Lisa would disavow her initial “the customer is always right” attitude. I love that even in this very short movie Craven knew it was important that after the murderous terrorist is taken care of Lisa has time to confront the true villains: the entitled couple who chewed out a lady at the desk of the hotel. Most of us will never get anywhere near a political assassination, but we’ll encounter this type of unforgivable villainy repeatedly. Send ’em to hell, Lisa.

These days people (myself included) get excited for the rare major motion picture that comes in at less than 90 minutes. You just don’t see it very often anymore. To be honest, though, some of them end up feeling like too little, like I actually would’ve gotten more out of it if it was longer. Not the case here. This is the exact right amount of RED EYE. A perfect serving.

Much of Craven’s crew were veterans. Director of photography Robert D. Yeoman is known primarily for working with a different Wes – he’d already shot Wes Anderson’s first four movies and has done five more since then, plus several shorts. The co-editor is Patrick Lussier, Craven’s usual guy going back to Nightmare Cafe. Lussier had already directed DTV sequels for Miramax, and later graduated to theaters for MY BLOODY VALENTINE, DRIVE ANGRY and TRICK.

The actors were mostly pretty established, but have exploded since then. Murphy got the Oscar for that one movie. Cox got like a hundred Emmys or whatever. McAdams got a supporting actress Oscar nomination for SPOTLIGHT and a paycheck for the DOCTOR STRANGE movies but let me tell you if you haven’t seen her in ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET that’s the one that made me realize I’d been undervaluing her. It’s a movie pushing buttons that I do not have on my dashboard, not having ever been a girl or a parent, but the sucker made me cry, and she was the secret weapon. She did not get any nominations for that one but is being given the more prestigious award of starring in the next Sam Raimi movie.

There’s one now familiar face in the supporting cast: Kyle Gallner plays a character called “Headphone Kid’s Brother,” but it’s a bigger character than that sounds like. Weirdly he’s been in two other movies with “red” in the title (RED, also with Brian Cox, and RED STATE) as well as two other movies based on Wes Craven movies (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2010 and SCREAM 2022). I finally started remembering who he was after STRANGE DARLING.

RED EYE was a hit ($96 million on a $26 million budget), and I think it’s nice that Craven got to have one big popular movie that stands on its own without having to support the weight of a franchise. Unfortunately he only lived another ten years after this, during which time he directed two more movies – MY SOUL TO TAKE (one of his most insane – I enjoyed it) and SCREAM 4 (plays much better for me years after the fact). In a sense maybe those last years were also spent securing his legacy by being the hands-on producer of two actually good remakes of his classics – THE HILLS HAVE EYES (2006) and THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (2009). Notably the latter was co-written by Carl Ellsworth, the tv writer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, Cleopatra 2525) credited with RED EYE’s screenplay (sharing story credit with Dan Foos).

Anyway, RED EYE holds up.

trivial note: I noticed on the credits that the asshole passenger (“Irate Man” they call him) is played by Loren Lester, who I know as the voice of Dick Grayson on Batman: The Animated Series. Others may know him as Jordan Knight on the New Kids On the Block cartoon. It took me a second but I could hear it.