Red Eye

Tags

2000's, Brian Cox, Cillian Murphy, Rachel McAdams, Red Eye, Thriller, Wes Craven

Film Title

Red Eye

Director

Wes Craven

Starring

• Rachel McAdams as Lisa Reisert
• Cillian Murphy as Jackson Ripper
• Brian Cox as Joe Reisert

Wes Craven takes to the air for this suspenseful little thriller that is lean, mean and nail-biting stuff. Red Eye, with many a Hitchcockian element to it, doesn’t aspire to be something brand spanking new; its main objective is to thrill and that’s what it does.

Lisa Reisert is a hotel manager whose life is all about dealing with tough customers and complaints. We pick up with her in Dallas, where she has just attended the funeral of her Grandmother. She’s not the biggest fan of flying, but is going to catch the red-eye flight back to Miami. Unfortunately, her flight is delayed and she has to wait around for a little while. It’s here that she meets the polite and handsome Jackson Ripper, who engages in friendly talk with her. When the flight is ready, they are happy and bemused to see that they are sitting next to each other on the plane. Though he keeps Lisa calm, there’s something not quite right about Jackson which becomes abundantly clear to us and her. What started as flirting and charming conversation soon turns to something very sinister as the plane takes off. Jackson admits to being part of a terrorist organisation that needs Lisa’s expertise in a deadly plan. You see the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security is staying in the hotel Lisa works in and the people Jackson works for are planning an elaborate assassination for him. They just need Lisa to switch his room for it to be successful. As leverage to ensure she takes part, Jackson informs the terrified Lisa that her father will be killed if his demands aren’t met. Faced with precious time that is ticking away, Lisa digs into her resolve in order to not buckle under the shock that befalls her. But just how long can she hold the evil and ruthless Jackson off before death begins to occur?

Red Eye benefits from the sure hand of Wes Craven in the directing chair. Having been one of the kings of the horror genre, his skills at inducing tension and terror are utilized here in this tightly compact suspense thriller. He gets over a real claustrophobia and paranoia that seeps into every frame, especially the main chunk that is airborne and the most unnerving. Red Eye isn’t aiming for immense originality or to be a game changing suspense movie; its most concerned with offering up something nail-biting and with more than a couple of jolts of unpredictability. economical running time makes sure that we are on the edge of our seats and no flab is seen leaking in Red Eye. The last half hour goes a bit overboard, but the build up and the tightness of most of it makes it easy to ignore and still a well constructed thriller with excitement and a whole lot of tension. The pacing is mainly where the movie is at, cleverly getting to the point after a short but bracing warm up before a white-knuckle intensity covers it splendidly. The mid-air game of sinister cat and mouse is sustained through effectively up close camerawork and  Marco Beltrami, who previously scored the haunting music for Craven’s Scream, is ace at filtering an electronic pulse into Red Eye. He starts with little drops of suspense, before cranking up the action and drama for something quickening and growing in volume.

Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy are the main players in this movie and they are talented performers. McAdams is a kind of actress who keeps things grounded and her part sympathetic and resourceful. She’s no screaming victim and though under duress, she makes her part one of both believable smarts and vulnerability. Cillian Murphy, with his intense stare and icy blue eyes, is superbly cast as the seemingly charming man who is anything but. Nastiness is his middle name but you can also sense some form of desperation to get his job done no matter what from the always watchable Murphy. Together, both are engaged in a deadly hunter and prey routine that is extremely entertaining. Although his appearance is rather sporadic, it’s always good to see Brian Cox in a movie and he is worth the watch no matter how small the role.

A tense and efficient thriller, Red Eye shows Wes Craven directing with great economy and style to give us a cracking suspense thriller.

28 Days Later

Tags

2000's, 28 Days Later, Brendan Gleeson, Christopher Eccleston, Cillian Murphy, Danny Boyle, Horror, Megan Burns, Naomie Harris, Noah Huntley

Film Title

28 Days Later

Director

Danny Boyle

Starring

• Cillian Murphy as Jim
• Naomie Harris as Selena
• Brendan Gleeson as Frank
• Christopher Eccleston as Major Henry West
• Megan Burns as Hannah
• Noah Huntley as Mark

Danny Boyle’s intensely mounted and terrifying horror 28 Days Later successfully delivers shocks, scares and relatable characters trying to survive in a world of post-apocalyptic wreckage. Sharply scripted and genuinely frightening, it is zombie horror at its finest.

In the beginning, a group of animal activists break into a secret research facility where chimpanzees are being held and experimented on. Despite the warnings of a scientist who catches them that the primates are infected with a highly contagious and violent virus, the trio opens the cages and are subsequently and brutally attacked. 28 days later in a London hospital, a bicycle courier by the name of Jim wakes from a coma. Dazed, he wanders out into the streets where he is greeted by a grim silence and everywhere deserted. Just as he is making a connection of what happened, he is attacked by a ravenous hoard of zombies. Thankfully, he is saved by Selena and Mark, who take him to refuge. The unflinching and very tough Selena explains that while Jim was in a coma, the highly contagious rage virus spread like wildfire among the population, resulting in death and collapse of society. The infected can spread the virus through blood and biting Jim is warned. Moving from place to place with the two survivors, Jim sees how dangerous the situation is when Mark is infected and Selena kills him. They are joined later by optimistic cab driver Frank and his young but very mature daughter Hannah. Continually moving and dodging attacks from the infected, through a radio broadcast, the quartet hears of alleged safety provided by an army camp. But with the virus quickly spreading and supplies dwindling, can the group survive when they come to see that this supposed safety they have been promised could be just as dangerous as the hoards of ravenous zombies on their tail?

Danny Boyle delivers kinetic direction that puts the audience right in the middle of the savagery and battle for survival. Yet what really impressed me about his directing was the way that he kept the pace going but didn’t ignore the character development. Boyle uses these flourishes to punctuate 28 Days Later with moments of tenderness between the core characters, before unleashing the hellish threat of infection and violence upon them. The tight script also gives the characters real emotion that makes us want them to survive the horrific ordeal. The roving camerawork highlights the race for survival and how these characters are on the move constantly. A grimy visual style creates a darkly authentic portrait of society gone to ruin, in an almost allegorical way. Haunting images abound but nothing beats the eerie silence and genuine sense of discomfort emitted from the scenes of Jim walking around an abandoned London seeing that the world he once knew has been altered. There is something so chilling about those scenes that I can’t put my finger on. And 28 Days Later deserves credit for the redesign of the usual sloping zombies in the horror genre. Here they are fast-moving and very frightening things and seeing them will stay in your head for a long time. A dark score of ambience and ever-growing intensity keeps the pace of the film ticking over and induces goosebumps in the process. I think it’s fair to say that 28 Days Later is not just another zombie movie, it has more to it than that and it rises above many other films in the genre.

Cillian Murphy wonderfully portrays the disoriented and shocked nature of Jim, who awakens to find his world upside down and very dangerous. Murphy makes the character sympathetic as well as capable of surviving these dire circumstances he has been thrust into. Making a very strong impact is Naomie Harris in her performance as Selena. A battle hardened fighter who doesn’t beat around the bush and won’t back down, Harris excellently gives voice to a character that has resided herself to the fact that she must do whatever she can to go on living and how weakness is not an option. Lighting up the supporting cast is Brendan Gleeson displaying gruff charm and affable kindness as Frank, who manages to find something to smile about most of the time despite the situation he is in. A slimy turn from Christopher Eccleston as a corrupt major who poses another dangerous threat to the group brings another face of shock to the piece. The only real acting casualties in this film are a bland Megan Burns and an underused Noah Huntley. Other than that, the cast is strong and very reliable.

Intense, deeply unsettling and brutally compelling, 28 Days Later is one effective slice of terror.

More Gorgeous Ladies

Tags

Andrew Lincoln, Cillian Murphy, Gorgeous Ladies, Keri Russell, Natalie Portman, Rachel Nichols, Scott Eastwood

This installment of the Ladies series is all about the suggestions from my fellow bloggers, as well as a few of my own choices. So prepare for one sexy post of stunning ladies and hunky dudes.

First up we have the gorgeous Natalie Portman, in a sexy shot especially for James.

Here we have the curly-haired and stunningly beautiful Keri Russell for Marcko Guy.

It’s clear to see why the smoldering sexuality of Rachel Nichols so captivates Eric.

And now some handsome lads for everyone.

Andrew Lincoln is on seductive display with his blue eyes and intense gaze for Zoe.

The dark hair, full lips and piercing eyes are all that Cillian Murphy needs to make him a crush for Emma.

The strength and macho virility of Scott Eastwood clearly make him someone who Fernando likes.