Movies - Red Eye

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	Movies - Red Eye

Red Eye is a 2005 drama/thriller film, directed by Wes Craven and written by Carl Ellsworth. It follows the story of Lisa Reisert as she is held captive, threatened and used as a tool in part of an assasination plot by Jackson Rippner aboard a red eye flight to her home in Miami.

Plot

Lisa Reisert (played by Rachel McAdams) has a fear of flying, and after attending her grandmother's funeral in Dallas, she has to take a night flight (called a red-eye flight, hence the movie title) to Miami. She meets Jackson Rippner (played by Cillian Murphy), whom she initially finds charming. After the plane has taken off, however, Rippner reveals that he is an operative who intends to assassinate the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, and Lisa is instrumental in his plans. If she refuses to cooperate, then Rippner will prompt a hit-man to kill her father. Reisert has no way of getting help without jeopardizing her father's safety, and the longer she waits, the harder it will be to prevent the murder.

The plan is to use a portable missile launcher from a boat in a nearby harbor and fire it at the hotel. The problem is that the Deputy Secretary likes to stay in a different suite, one that faces the city (away from the harbor). In order to assassinate him, Rippner must force Lisa, who is the manager of that hotel, to make a phone call from the airplane and order the hotel staff to change his reservation to a particular suite that faces the harbor. If she doesn't cooperate with Rippner, he will have her father murdered by a hit-man who is waiting just outside her father's house in Florida.

She makes the phone call, and the hotel staff moves the politician to the targeted suite. The Secret Service checks and clears that room, and the Secretary settles in with his family. After the airplane lands and arrives at the gate, Lisa stabs Rippner in the voicebox with a pen and bolts off the plane. She runs through the airport and takes a 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV to her father's house. On the way, she makes a cell phone call to the hotel to warn them to evacuate immediately. The Secret Services gets the Secretary and his family out of the room just seconds before the missile is fired and hits the hotel.

At the end of the film, Lisa rushes to her father's house to see if he's safe. She finds the hit-man right outside the front door, and she runs him over with the SUV. Just when she thought she has saved the day and everyone is safe, Rippner shows up in the house and battles it out with her. Finally, Lisa's father shoots Rippner just as the police arrive, though whether he actually dies is unknown. At the hotel, the Homeland Secretary and the Secret Service are grateful to Lisa and her assistant at the hotel, who also helped save the day by pulling the fire alarm.

Cast

Rachel McAdams
— Lisa Reisert
Cillian Murphy
— Jackson Rippner
Brian Cox
— Joe Reisert
Jayma Mays - Cynthia
Jack Scalia
- Charles Keefe

Reception

Red Eye was mostly praised prior to the theatrical release, and has earned an overall rating of 80 on and 71 on . Red Eye gained high praise from many popular publications, including the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Roger Ebert in the Chicago-Sun Times. The film grossed $57,859,105 domestically, making back and doubling the estimated $25,000,000 budget, which doesn't take into account DVD sales.

Trivia

Jackson Rippner's name is a pseudonym based on Jack the Ripper, selected to have the same initials as Joe Reisert, Lisa's father, so that Reisert's initialed wallet will not raise suspicion in Rippner's possession. Incidentally, Rippner threatens Lisa with a knife near the end of the movie - another nod to Jack the Ripper.
Red Eye was also released as Night Flight in some countries
Red Eye will be spoofed in a small scene from the upcoming Scary Movie 4
.
This film was written for Sean Penn
and Robin Wright Penn
. However, Wes Craven decided to go with younger leads who weren't as recognizable.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Red Eye (film) ]

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