Movie Review: Red Eye

Starring Cillian Murphy & Rachel McAdams

CURSE YOU, WES CRAVEN!!! As if i didn't already hate flying....
Anyway, i Netflixed this because i'm a big fan of both actors (i was a McAdams fan before it was popular....like when she was making movies with Rob Schnieder) and i like a good scary movie, so long as it doesn't involve demons, Jennifer Love Hewitt, or creepy masked men on tricycles. This one did not disappoint. Most of the movie takes place on a plane, where Murphy is, in a sense, holding McAdams hostage with the threat of having her father killed if she doesn't use her fancy hotel management connections to arrange for the assassination of the Secretary of Defense.
i thought it was a simple, creative plot. No big conspiracies, no scandalous skeletons in any closets, just good vs evil, which is scarier anyway. The fact that the two actors are literally sitting in an airplane for most of the movie attributes to the scary 'trapped by evil' sense, plus it created a considerable challenge for the actors. Think about it: you can't easily rely on body language when you're sitting in coach, shot from the shoulders up. And, like i knew they would, Murphy and McAdams came through brilliantly.
The chase scene through the airport was a bit of a stretch; Lisa could've told any airport personnel a terrorist was chasing her and gotten a considerable lead, if not a telephone to use, but instead they go cat and mousing through the airport before busting out a full-speed chase. Now, if a pretty girl ran by you in an airport freaking out, wouldn't you at least slide your bag out to trip the bastard chasing her? Or, i don't know, scream and duck? It's a post 9/11 world Craven, people aren't going to let you mess around with their airports.
But what scary movie doesn't have its believability problems? i'll forgive it, in light of the fact that it's the only criticism i could think of. i recommend this for a good, trauma-free scare. 4.3 out of 5 beautifully-cheekboned bad guys.