First of all, in my opinion at least, Red Eye is a big disappointment...to a Wes Craven fan. That qualification is important because, frankly, this isn't a bad moviecoaster at all; heck, it's actually a pretty good one to while away an hour and a half, and a fairly clean, family-friendly experience all in all. But I am a Craven fan, and so, to me, as a Craven film, it's disappointing. I guess that's because, when you're watching a big hitter, and he winds up and builds up, and then hits it--but it doesn't go halfway across the field, let alone out of the ballpark--then you're apt to be a mite disappointed.
Craven, of course, in case you're not a horror film freak, began his career with the controversial and somewhat unpleasant slasher flick The Last House on the Left. But it's as the maker of the Nightmare on Elm Street films that he really made his name. More recently, he managed that rarest of rabbit-pulls: he developed and helmed a second mega-hit series of films, the Scream trilogy. In between, he found time to direct several lesser films with varying degrees of success, from the interesting Shocker to the disappointing recent werewolf film
It's in the last category that Red Eye belongs. This is a film that doesn't promise a big bang and doesn't deliver one. Probably the best thing about it is its self-set limits and the way it strives mightily to get the most muscle out of that small body. And no, guys, I'm not talking about Ms. McAdams! I'm talking about the attempt to set most of the film on a late-night (red eye) flight from Texas to Miami, thereby containing the action and tension in a limited physical space and the cast to a fixed ensemble of minor characters supporting the two primaries.
It's an interesting approach and it's used very effectively. It works from the first minute thanks to Wes Craven's legendary eye for casting likable, feisty, strong, independent, butt-kicking heroines. He made a star out of Neve Campbell with the Scream trilogy, and here, he makes a star out of newcomer McAdams with her debut. And McAdams certainly deserve the launch: she's a very attractive young lady with a commanding screen presence, just enough appeal to be sexy but not overwhelmingly so, a bit of girl-next-door with woman-in-charge combined together, smart, intelligent, very feminine and yet very power-charged. Here's a Hollywood heroine who could do almost any role or film, from a sultry seductress to an action-figure saver of the day thriller, to a serious girls-in-the-nuthouse film, or...well, you name it, I think she could pull it off. McAdams is real talent, polished, buffed, and ready to serve. She's going to be a woman to watch in the next few Hollywood years.
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