‘Red Eye’ a ticket to airborne thriller

A Texas-sized rainstorm has delayed all flights out of Dallas.

Waiting on the red eye to Miami, Lisa (Rachel McAdams) finds she is

hesitantly flirting with Jackson (Cillian Murphy); first in the

check-in line and, later, in an airport bar. Jackson, booked on the

same flight, is thoughtful, tender and eerily in tune with her

tastes. In any other movie, love could be in the air.

However, the flirtation gives way to a sinister and turbulent new

reality as soon as they are high in the unfriendly skies. Jackson has

been stalking Lisa in an effort to ensure her acquiescence in an

assassination plot. Thus begins a psychological game of cat and

mouse, although Jackson might be surprised to find out who is, in

actuality, the cat and who is the mouse.

A welcome late summer release, “Red Eye” arrives right on time,

without any delays, at a lean, mean running time of 85 minutes.

Working from a script by Carl Ellsworth, “Red Eye” is a return to

form for Wes Craven, director of, among others, the “Scream” trilogy

and “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” Craven has crafted a taut,

claustrophobic thriller that devilishly plays off the multitude of

modern anxieties involved with today’s air travel.

This is a thriller that, for the most part, feels real, no matter

how farfetched the plot may be. This believability is helped

enormously by the fine performances of both McAdams and Murphy in

what is, essentially, a two-person film.

However, with all due respect to Murphy and Craven, “Red Eye”

belongs to McAdams. As Lisa, she displays a wide acting range, and a

billion-dollar smile, without collapsing into histrionics or

caricature.

This is a performance of real warmth and rare intelligence. Her

Lisa is a tenacious young everywoman (not, thankfully, “superwoman”)

forced into action armed, for the most part, with just her wits.

Graced with that magical star power that creates an instant

emotional bond with the audience, McAdams is sure to be Hollywood’s

next very big movie star.

The line forms here.

REEL FACTOID

Although rare in Hollywood, the first-time feature film writer of

“Red Eye,” Carl Ellsworth, was the only screenwriter to work on this

script. He claims he kept expecting to be replaced at any moment but

was kept on until the film was finished shooting. Both he and

director Wes Craven have cameos as airline passengers.

* BOB HARRIS works in a Burbank real estate office. He was once

snowed in at the Dallas airport, though, alas, not with Rachel

McAdams.