Cillian Murphy is receiving much-deserved Oscar buzz for his riveting performance in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, but it’s his turn in Wes Craven’s underrated 2005 thriller Red Eye that showcases the many facets of Murphy’s talent.
Red Eye is a psychological thriller that follows a hotel manager named Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) who gets caught up in an assassination plot by a terrorist named Jackson Rippner (Murphy). The film’s hook is that all of this primarily takes place while they’re both aboard a red-eye flight to Miami.
Craven expertly mounts considerable tension from featuring two characters with most of their interactions while seated next to each other on a plane. Lisa can’t let anyone know about her plight because Jackson has made it clear that he has a hitman in place to kill her father, Joe (Brian Cox), if she is non-compliant. The target of the would-be plot is the current United States Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. Lisa’s position as a hotel manager, where he will be staying, makes her a crucial part of Jackson’s plan.
Red Eye Was One of Two Films Released With Cillian Murphy in 2005
Red Eye is mostly viewed as a starring vehicle for McAdams, who was on a bit of a meteoric rise following the success of Mean Girls and The Notebook. By 2005, Murphy was mostly known to most moviegoers for his role in 2002’s 28 Days Later, but during the very summer that Red Eye was released, he was also featured as Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow in Nolan’s Batman Begins.
McAdams was certainly more of a household name at that point, so Red Eye may have been a film where audiences could be discovering Murphy for the first time. That possible unfamiliarity makes the actors’ performance work as well as it does.
The movie doesn’t start with the doom and gloom right away. After Lisa arrives at Dallas Love Field to take a red-eye flight back to Miami, her first encounter with Jackson feels more like a meet-cute scenario from a romantic comedy. Jackson is engaging enough to convince Lisa to have a drink with him as they engage in casual small talk at the airport bar.
Despite Murphy having a look that would make most think he has sinister intentions, the actor is charming enough to convince the audience that he’s merely the guy next door. If this were an audition where Murphy had to play the romantic lead, he would’ve easily nailed it because he broke down the expectations of the audience. You buy the flirtation because not only do McAdams and Murphy share palpable chemistry during those early moments, but Murphy’s endearing personality lowers your defenses much like Lisa does.
When Jackson ends up in the seat next to her on her flight, Lisa is equal parts surprised and excited because their interactions in the airport bar were so pleasant. What could’ve begun as a strange but compelling how-we-first-met dating story suddenly becomes chillingly transparent when Jackson makes his real intentions known.
This is another area in which Murphy shines because Jackson isn’t a frothing-at-the-mouth villain. There is a calmness in his approach to getting Lisa to do his bidding that makes the character all the more terrifying. It’s clear he knows he’s in complete control of the situation, and Murphy’s confident approach to the performance sells it.
Murphy’s Performance Essays a Chilling Level of Control
Murphy is never over the top in his portrayal of Jackson. He’s completely level-headed, and when he does reach the level of losing his cool, particularly when he discovers Lisa tried to signal for help in the airplane bathroom, his bout of aggression also has a shade of stillness.
When Lisa also tries to get a message inside the self-help book she had previously given away to a fellow passenger, Jackson headbutts her to the point of unconsciousness, and the action is done without him even breaking a slight sweat. These chilling nuances added by Murphy make it clear Jackson is not one to be messed with.
Murphy gives a completely modulated performance throughout Red Eye’s breezy 85-minute runtime. There is never any scenery chewing, even when he begins to lose control of the situation when Lisa finds a way to get out of her precarious situation. When the action is taken off the plane and turns into more of a by-the-book action film, Jackson’s pursuit of Lisa is almost Terminator-like in its precision.
Lisa eventually finds a way to end the assassination plot, but this doesn’t matter to Jackson. At this point, it seems like he wants to dispatch Lisa for merely ruining his plan. Murphy’s performance is given another layer in the film’s final moments as Jackson’s violence intensifies during his struggle with Lisa. As the villain of a standard Hollywood thriller, we know that Jackson won’t win in the end, but Murphy’s performance makes the audience think he just might have a shot.
Red Eye was successful at the time of its release, grossing $57.8 million domestically and $95.5 million worldwide on a $26 million budget. Critics also enjoyed the film, registering a 79 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite this success, it feels like Red Eye is still a bit underrated because it doesn’t get mentioned often in the pantheon of great thrillers.
Craven brings some of his signature tricks to the film to raise the tension, but the performances keep the project grounded. McAdams brings depth and intensity to her role, but it’s Murphy’s villain that leads a lasting impression. With Oppenheimer giving Murphy a much-deserved moment, Red Eye is beginning to be rediscovered, and the actor’s chillingly effective portrayal is getting the praise it deserves.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
