A taut gem released after the rush of higher profile movies with big-name stars, ‘Red Eye’ embodies everything that makes late-summer moviegoing great.
I saw it opening day and liked it quite a bit, and it's held up on every revisit since. Too bad Craven's career couldn't have ended on this note as opposed to My Soul to Take.
It's also too bad that we didn't get more quality films out of him towards the end in general, but that's another discussion.
You’re leaving out SCREAM 4 (which I also barely remember, though I know it has its fans). I don’t know what explains the long gap between RED EYE and SOUL. Can’t help but feel we missed out on some good movies.
Oh come on. Red Eye had a great trailer and a fine set-up, then concluded with a third act of boring, tired conventionality. It's feels like someone took an interesting film and then plugged it into a Hollywood 101 screenplay ending bot.
And let's not forget that what could have been a neat little thriller ends with either the equivalent of a cheesy freeze frame (I forget) or an actual cheesy freeze-frame. Anything but a Sea Breeze! GRIN!
Yes, yes, and yes. Admittedly, I don't remember much of the details, but I remember how angry Red Eye's third act made me, and I'm still baffled that it's been held up ever since as an underrated gem (bah!). The acting is fine, and they were in fact names (especially McAdams after The Notebook), but the screenplay turns into an absolute mess towards the end with questionable plot points, to say the least. I'd say I'll revisit it someday, but that would be a lie...
We just finished watching the Apple series Hijack...and watching Red Eye to rinse out that bitter taste of disappointment will be a necessity. Red Eye definitely belongs in the pantheon of taut airplane flicks: Air Force One, Flightplan, Non-Stop, Executive Decision. Though my own tastes may be somewhat suspect, as I even liked Airport! (Enough to even have written about it: you can google "medium.com airport movie" and find it if you wish!)
For what it’s worth, and maybe this is just my little friend group, but every woman (roughly my age) in my life loves this movie and ESPECIALLY loves the third act - the pen-in-throat move is iconic and the rebalancing of power as Murphy gets owned time and time again in McAdams’ character’s childhood home is extremely satisfying to them.
And I totally agree with my friends so I’m not treating this like an anthropological study lol - I’ve just noticed a particular fondness for this movie from them that I thought might be worth mentioning.
I completely agree. I took a chance on this when it came out, and I’ve revisited it a few times since, usually twisting someone’s arm into watching it with me. It’s a small marvel of a script with the slimness and efficiency of a stiletto. It points toward an alternate career Craven could have made in suspense thrillers (though you could argue that’s what the best of his films always were).
I'm a big fan of this film, too. (Sorry, James K.! The third act is not as strong as the rest of the film, but it's just so relentlessly economical. Very satisfying 90 minutes.) But if I had written this Perfect August Movie column, I'd have been tempted to sing the praises of PREMIUM RUSH, David Koepp's 92-minute gem with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a bike messenger in possession of an important envelope. Michael Shannon FTW! He's like Wile E. Coyote to JGL's Roadrunner.
HAMLET 2 was bought by Focus for $10.5 million out of Sundance, a record-breaking amount at the time. I did get a Steve Coogan interview out of that one, though. https://www.avclub.com/steve-coogan-1798214637
I LOVED the red-band trailer for this, as did my freshman year hall...and then I never saw it (in fairness, I had some health problems in August 2008 and it did get a limited release). That it doesn't have a cult following the way other August movies do seems to suggest it may not be worth a watch...
Just thinking of these two movies makes me smile. :) Shannon's bad guy is so funny and deranged, and I think there's a scene in Hamlet 2 where just for like a second, we see that Coogan is not wearing any underwear (for no reason whatsoever, which makes it a hundred times more hilarious)?
This movie had an all-timer poster. Just a closeup of the two characters at chest level and it looks fairly normal except the male hand is gripping female's wrist. A subtle and elegant poster.
I have “Red Eye” on DVD, but I don’t remember what compelled me to buy it. I was certainly drawn to the two leads while watching it and felt it was better than I expected it to be.
Craven was so great when he was 'on' and honestly I can't think of another director who's highs and lows are so far apart - his worst stuff is just incredibly terrible. But this is a good one!
Wow, this brought me back. Saw this in a dying movie theater in South Carolina, and remember having a much better time than I expected. Not because I was wary of the release date, but because the idea of a PG-13 Wes Craven movie felt...wrong. But then, I sort of assumed Murphy was going to slaughter everyone on the plane with a knife, so that one's on me.
I feel bad the only scene I can vividly still remember from the 2000s-era Craven films (that aren't a SCREAM) is why no one can screw with the California Condor.
I saw this in theaters with a friend with whom I had seen all of Craven’s films starting with SCREAM, which means, yes, we suffered through CURSED together. (We also skipped MUSIC OF THE HEART, but can you blame us?) RED EYE was a superb course-correction.
I saw it opening day and liked it quite a bit, and it's held up on every revisit since. Too bad Craven's career couldn't have ended on this note as opposed to My Soul to Take.
It's also too bad that we didn't get more quality films out of him towards the end in general, but that's another discussion.
You’re leaving out SCREAM 4 (which I also barely remember, though I know it has its fans). I don’t know what explains the long gap between RED EYE and SOUL. Can’t help but feel we missed out on some good movies.
You're right, I did. I didn't like it at the time, liked it more when I revisited before 5 came out although it's still a weirdly ugly movie.
Oh come on. Red Eye had a great trailer and a fine set-up, then concluded with a third act of boring, tired conventionality. It's feels like someone took an interesting film and then plugged it into a Hollywood 101 screenplay ending bot.
And let's not forget that what could have been a neat little thriller ends with either the equivalent of a cheesy freeze frame (I forget) or an actual cheesy freeze-frame. Anything but a Sea Breeze! GRIN!
Yes, yes, and yes. Admittedly, I don't remember much of the details, but I remember how angry Red Eye's third act made me, and I'm still baffled that it's been held up ever since as an underrated gem (bah!). The acting is fine, and they were in fact names (especially McAdams after The Notebook), but the screenplay turns into an absolute mess towards the end with questionable plot points, to say the least. I'd say I'll revisit it someday, but that would be a lie...
This guy gets it
We just finished watching the Apple series Hijack...and watching Red Eye to rinse out that bitter taste of disappointment will be a necessity. Red Eye definitely belongs in the pantheon of taut airplane flicks: Air Force One, Flightplan, Non-Stop, Executive Decision. Though my own tastes may be somewhat suspect, as I even liked Airport! (Enough to even have written about it: you can google "medium.com airport movie" and find it if you wish!)
Call him Sung Quonsett
For what it’s worth, and maybe this is just my little friend group, but every woman (roughly my age) in my life loves this movie and ESPECIALLY loves the third act - the pen-in-throat move is iconic and the rebalancing of power as Murphy gets owned time and time again in McAdams’ character’s childhood home is extremely satisfying to them.
And I totally agree with my friends so I’m not treating this like an anthropological study lol - I’ve just noticed a particular fondness for this movie from them that I thought might be worth mentioning.
I completely agree. I took a chance on this when it came out, and I’ve revisited it a few times since, usually twisting someone’s arm into watching it with me. It’s a small marvel of a script with the slimness and efficiency of a stiletto. It points toward an alternate career Craven could have made in suspense thrillers (though you could argue that’s what the best of his films always were).
I'm a big fan of this film, too. (Sorry, James K.! The third act is not as strong as the rest of the film, but it's just so relentlessly economical. Very satisfying 90 minutes.) But if I had written this Perfect August Movie column, I'd have been tempted to sing the praises of PREMIUM RUSH, David Koepp's 92-minute gem with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a bike messenger in possession of an important envelope. Michael Shannon FTW! He's like Wile E. Coyote to JGL's Roadrunner.
I liked Premium Rush too! But if we're naming great August releases can we forget HAMLET 2???
Just kidding yes of course we can
HAMLET 2 was bought by Focus for $10.5 million out of Sundance, a record-breaking amount at the time. I did get a Steve Coogan interview out of that one, though. https://www.avclub.com/steve-coogan-1798214637
Yes! And then it made less than 5m worldwide so my back-of-the-envelope accounting suggests to me that they did not see a profit on that $10.5m.
Good interview btw. Liked your question about whacky drama teachers. Corky St. Clair SHOULD have been mentioned though :D
I LOVED the red-band trailer for this, as did my freshman year hall...and then I never saw it (in fairness, I had some health problems in August 2008 and it did get a limited release). That it doesn't have a cult following the way other August movies do seems to suggest it may not be worth a watch...
Just thinking of these two movies makes me smile. :) Shannon's bad guy is so funny and deranged, and I think there's a scene in Hamlet 2 where just for like a second, we see that Coogan is not wearing any underwear (for no reason whatsoever, which makes it a hundred times more hilarious)?
We as a society should be talking about Premium Rush all the time.
I was going to advocate for Breakdown (1997) here but apparently it was released in MAY, huge goof studios.
An honorary August film. And genuinely great. Saw it again for the first time in decades recently and it kills.
I love Breakdown so much and think of it anytime I see gas station donuts (or were they sno-balls?).
I’ve got your piece for you for next week: “Oh Come On!: The Perfect August Movie is Premium Rush.”
Write it.
Premium Rush was fun, indeed.
Cellular/Phone Booth/Red Eye always formed a loose trilogy of better-than-they-should-be early aughts economical thrillers in my mind.
This movie had an all-timer poster. Just a closeup of the two characters at chest level and it looks fairly normal except the male hand is gripping female's wrist. A subtle and elegant poster.
https://www.movieposters.com/cdn/shop/products/5166ab9b69677d25aa84f74aafac667f_e0350335-9211-4aa9-8ec0-57212f176560_480x.progressive.jpg?v=1573594787
Had forgotten about that, such a good poster. I wonder if the gag would have been too subtle if you could see their faces.
I have “Red Eye” on DVD, but I don’t remember what compelled me to buy it. I was certainly drawn to the two leads while watching it and felt it was better than I expected it to be.
Craven was so great when he was 'on' and honestly I can't think of another director who's highs and lows are so far apart - his worst stuff is just incredibly terrible. But this is a good one!
Francis Ford Coppola made Jack, as well as a handful of better movies, just throwing that out there.
Heh, true! But even Jack doesn't plumb the depths of Craven's worst.
Wow, this brought me back. Saw this in a dying movie theater in South Carolina, and remember having a much better time than I expected. Not because I was wary of the release date, but because the idea of a PG-13 Wes Craven movie felt...wrong. But then, I sort of assumed Murphy was going to slaughter everyone on the plane with a knife, so that one's on me.
I feel bad the only scene I can vividly still remember from the 2000s-era Craven films (that aren't a SCREAM) is why no one can screw with the California Condor.
I saw this in theaters with a friend with whom I had seen all of Craven’s films starting with SCREAM, which means, yes, we suffered through CURSED together. (We also skipped MUSIC OF THE HEART, but can you blame us?) RED EYE was a superb course-correction.
Hi, my name is Ross, and I circled back and took 85 minutes.
Red Eye fell into that category of "I'm pretty sure I saw that", but turned out not to be.
Thanks Keith!