Sunday, November 27, 2005

Movie Review: Red Eye

Though the storyline is quite thin and not very believable, Red Eye manages to hold one's attention pretty well. The way the plot develops is very natural -- I especially liked the conversation in which the villain (Cillian Murphy) exposes his plans to Rachel McAdams' character. Very slickly done.

Going by Murphy's performance in the first half of the movie, I was on the verge of anointing his character as one of the classic villains of modern cinema, but he totally loses it in the second half, almost being reduced to a caricature, croaking and stumbling around in the climax like a clown.

Speaking of the climax, I can't believe that a director of Wes Craven's calibre would go with such a cliched ending. Come on, the girl being chased by the crazed killer never runs up the stairs (didn't one of the characters in Scream -- also directed by Craven -- say so?). The phone ringing during those tense moments also reminded me of Scream, by the way.