Red Eye Movie Review (2005)

A psychological thriller that highlights two fantastic leads, Red Eye is a short, claustrophobic, and intense ride with a bit of a cliché ending.

I have heard a lot of people say that Red Eye is an underrated thriller. It didn’t really catch my eye when it first released, but the more I heard the conversation about it, the more I thought that it was time I decided for myself. Today was that day.

Red Eye is about Lisa, a manager at a luxury hotel, who is taking a red eye flight home after her grandmother’s funeral. She meets a handsome man at the airport and oddly, they end up seated next to each other on the plane. Very quickly, he tells her that her father is going to die if she doesn’t help him take out a political target staying at her hotel, and, trapped in the plane with him, she has very few options.

I have seen this psychological thriller billed as a horror film and I have absolutely no idea why. It is not horror at all (as far as genre – some would argue that her situation is horrific), it is strictly thriller, so no worries there.

The first two acts of this film are lots of fun. The tension builds, Rachel McAdams is beautiful, harried, and smart, and Cillian Murphy is incredibly dashing followed by incredibly creepy. They do a fantastic job and you enjoy watching them both the entire time.

The third act is where things fell out for me. What was creative, high strung, and claustrophobic started to become cliché and let some of the air out of the bag. The airplane scenes are by far the best ones, and when they leave that environment, at least for me, it starts to feel too long and unnecessary. Even at a total runtime of 85 minutes.

Brian Cox, who plays Lisa’s father, and plane passenger Kyle Gallner (my beloved from Dinner In America) were fun faces to see, as well as a cute performance by Jayma Mays (who starred in Glee). The actors all did a great job.

This is one of those movies where, particularly at the end, you find yourself asking, “Why did she stay there?” “Why did he do that?” and the scenes begin to defy logic. It’s not bad by any means, but it is nothing new.

All in all, I would say that Red Eye is not an underrated thriller. It is an enjoyable ride that has two excellent leads and a fairly typical story in an atypical setting. It’s definitely worth watching, as the first two-thirds are lots of uneasy fun and the last bit will remind you of movies you’ve seen before. But that’s not a bad thing – they wouldn’t keep doing it if it didn’t work.

Runtime: 85 minutes

Motion Picture Rating: PG-13

Languages Spoken In The Film: English

Should You Watch It? Yes

Did I Cry? Nope

My Rating: 3/5 Stars

Available: Free on Netflix and PlutoTv, to rent on Prime Video, or may be available for free on other streaming platforms