Red Eye (2005)

A woman is kidnapped by a stranger on a routine flight. Threatened by the potential murder of her father, she is pulled into a plot to assist her captor in offing a politician.

Director:

Wes Craven

Writers:

Carl Ellsworth (screenplay), Carl Ellsworth (story)

Stars:

Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox

2 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rachel McAdams	...	Lisa Reisert
Cillian Murphy	...	Jackson Rippner
Brian Cox	...	Joe Reisert
Laura Johnson	...	Blonde Woman
Max Kasch	...	Headphone Kid
Jayma Mays	...	Cynthia
Angela Paton	...	Nice Lady
Suzie Plakson	...	Senior Flight Attendant
Jack Scalia	...	Charles Keefe
Terry Press	...	Marianne Taylor (as Teresa Press-Marx)
Robert Pine	...	Bob Taylor
Carl Gilliard	...	Taxi Driver
Mary Kathleen Gordon	...	Airline Representative (as Mary-Kathleen Gordon)
Loren Lester	...	Irate Passenger
Philip Pavel	...	Dallas Ticket Agent

Storyline

This is the story of a young resourceful heroine named Lisa Reisert who hates to fly, but the terror that awaits her on the night flight to Miami has nothing to do with a fear of flying! Upon boarding the plane, Lisa is trapped on a red-eye flight with a creepy villainous handsome and charming man by the name of Jackson Rippner, who's playing middle-man in the plot to assassinate a Homeland Security official. He's got her father pinned down by a would-be killer, using that advantage to coerce Lisa into phoning the luxury resort where she works and arranging to move the target into a pre-set position.

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Plot Keywords:

flight | hotel manager | hotel | airport | plane | 

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Taglines:

Fear Takes Flight

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Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of violence, and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

19 August 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Don't Airport

Filming Locations:

Continuum At South Beach - 100 South Pointe Drive, Miami Beach, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$26,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$16,167,662, 21 August 2005, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$57,891,803

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$37,685,971

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks, BenderSpink, Craven-Maddalena Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

For the movie, fake airline tickets were printed up for passengers to carry and use. On the back was listed 12 "terms and conditions" for buying the ticket, just like on real airline tickets. However, the twelfth read: "All the provisions of this Passenger Ticket and Baggage Claim Check are completely bogus. It's all a bunch of excessive detail, and if you happen to be reading this you've got too much time on your hands. Bring a good book next time."

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Goofs

In the beginning when the agent announces that flight 1019 is ready to board, the jetway is not connected to the airplane. This can be seen through the window.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Marianne Taylor: Taylor. Bob and Marianne Taylor.
Cynthia: Just bear with me one second.
Marianne Taylor: There are other hotels in Miami.
Cynthia: I'm sorry.
Marianne Taylor: What is the problem? We made these reservations over six months ago.
Cynthia: I know, ma'am, I'm just not seeing it.
Marianne Taylor: Well, where's Lisa? Lisa always takes care of us.
Cynthia: I know, ma'am. She's out of town. Her grandmother passed away.
Bob Taylor: Cynthia, is it?
[...]

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Connections

References Die Hard (1988)

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Soundtracks

Where Do I Begin?
Written by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons
Performed by The Chemical Brothers (with vocals by Beth Orton (as Beth Oreton))

User Reviews

The perfect in-flight movie

Red Eye is not the kind of movie that's going to win the Palme D'or, but Wes Craven has never been that kind of director, anyway, and his branding is a good indication of what a film-goer can expect.

The fact that Red Eye is a tight little, undemanding package at 94 minutes is part of its charm and an indication of Craven's craft in producing lightweight, but generally enjoyable, box office fare. In fact, it's the perfect kind of movie to show as inflight entertainment, attention-holding without putting any intellectual or emotional challenges on the viewer.

Overall there is a cheesy feeling to the plot, vague terrorist subplot motivation and the supporting characters, and the main section has a TV movie feel. However, there are definite elements of Hitchcockian suspense, and echoes of Schumacher's Phone Booth, which ultimately is a more sophisticated (and pretentious) play on the same idea of emotional crisis being played out suppressed in public.

For a film that focuses mainly on two people sitting in airline seats, it lives or dies on the characters and script. Cillian's icy but eloquent Jackson Rippner and Rachel MacAdams resourceful Lisa are the main reasons the film gets carried off. Not only making the dialogue zing but also giving some sort of Adam's Rib type dimension to their battle of 'male logic' against feminine 'sensitivity'.

In the final portion of the film Craven indulges himself a little Scream style as man-chases-girl-with-knife. The most surprising revelation here is what Brian Cox looks like after the 'Just for Men' treatment, his ubiqutous appearance in films as diverse as Super Troopers, The Ring and this making him the sexegenarian version of Jude Law.

Short haul fun.