Wes Craven, you are one lucky son of a bitch. After "Cursed" you really needed a thriller to bring you back in to the form you arrived in, and you succeeded. This is routine Craven; suspense, excitement, some frights, and a slight dose of dark humor thrown in for good measure. All of which wouldn't be a Craven movie if not featured so prominently.

Not to mention he has the talents of Rachel Mcadams, Cillian Murphy, and Brian Cox respectively to help keep the film afloat. Or should I say in the air? I'm corny, I know, but I just love puns. Regardless, Craven really does perform to his usual keen sense of irony, and tension, and atmosphere that make up most of his films be it horror or that one drama with the music teachers.

This time around Craven uses the old Hitchcock device of an average character drawn in to a situation that is beyond their control who are forced to become reluctant heroes, and employs such a concept with style. Though Craven--this time around--begs that you suspend your disbelief with some lapses in logic; and I was extra cautious of that fact keeping the questions and furrowing of the brows in check and just plain enjoyed the fun that was "Red Eye". Call it nepotism at its finest, but I was slightly lenient due to the talent placed on this and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

At just under ninety minutes, Craven uses the tight run time to let loose with the usual obstacles and turmoil's required for what the plot entails (difficult passengers, technical glitches), and he even includes an homage to "White Heat" that I found particularly clever. Craven and screenwriter Carl Ellsworth tackle the concept of terrorism, paranoia and the skittish sentiment towards the American public with the story that basically involves the theme of terrorism. (The beautiful) Rachel McAdams plays Lisa Reisert, a hotel manager who is non-confrontational in many respects and obviously has a decent home life she drowns out with working around the clock, and on her way to her plane meets a gentleman named Jack.

Played with such subtle grace by Cillian Murphy, Jack is your run of the mill yuppy. He's blue eyed, a sort of antithesis to Lisa and is shy when flirting with her. By luck of the draw, Lisa is seated beside Jack on her Red Eye flight and she discovers this courter of hers isn't who she thought he was. His name is Jackson Ripner (Seriously), which sadly made me laugh as it harkened me back to Jack D. Ripper from "Dr. Strangelove". Jackson warns Lisa that, unless she plays by the rules and takes part in the assassination attempt of a deputy of Homeland security, her father (Brian Cox) will die brutally (hinting to her that they'll need a closed casket ceremony).

Thus, only twenty minutes in, we're shown some of the best dialogue, and brutally intense scenes between these immensely talented actors. McAdams is utterly beautiful and is very convincing as a hotel Manager training a new recruit over the phone (Extra points for the hilarious and sympathetic performance of Jayma Mays who is really good) and struggling to keep herself together, while desperately making sure to keep her father from suffering an ill-fate. McAdams, the reluctant heroine we can't help root for and Craven knows how to emphasize her desperation enough that we're along for the ride. McAdams gives a great
performance here and holds her own against Murphy who is increasingly becoming the actor to cast for villains.

Murphy is as threatening as ever; he's an excellent villain. He's Walken sans the eccentricity; he's dashing, good looking, and a gentleman, but he has the ferocious murderous persona that makes him the perfect antagonist that tortures McAdams with pleasure while trying to get his job done. He has the piercing blue eyes that can go from puppy dog to pit bull in
seconds flat, and with the deep gravelly voice he becomes the merciless tormentor who gets in to Lisa's head. The two perform the accustomed game of cat and mouse as Lisa attempts to keep the plan from actually going through while Jack tries to keep from drawing attention to themselves.

Craven always keeps the camera tightly focused on the two actors' faces reinforcing the claustrophobic atmosphere to a tee and lets us acknowledge the tight space in which this grand plan is taking its course. Craven doesn't draw out the plot for as long as possible,  keeping the running time tolerable enough for the story to run its course and finally ends it with a whisper that make this the simple but satisfying thriller that he needed to get back in the game. Though, I wouldn't suggest this being shown on airplanes.

Brian Cox being the ubiquitous character actor and sport that he is is brutally under used and utterly wasted here as a minimal character in spite of his integral role. He has very few speaking scenes and really isn't fleshed out to his full potential as a character. Either way the lapses in logic and large plot holes were many times hard to ignore, there
is an obvious hostage situation and no one notices, people are seated side by side and no one can see a distressed young woman in obvious fright, they can't see the violent acts happening, Ripner is able to take away the book from the old woman and we're never really told how, and then the climax taking it from the plane to the road really made no sense in the end. How did Ripner get to Lisa's house before she did? None of it really made any such sense and it detracted much realism it strived in during the story.

In spite of lapses and logic and plot holes, Craven crafts a simple, but exciting little thriller that makes for an exciting ninety minutes. With excellent acting, great direction, and an exciting climax, it'll surely ease the pain that was "Cursed".

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