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The debut screenplay from Buffy/Xena writer Carl Ellsworth, Red Eye has the feel, structure, and length (85 minutes) of a pilot for an Alias knockoff about a regular girl who discovers unrealized strengths when thrust into the world of international terrorism. Directed very conservatively by Wes Craven (as if trying to atone for the debacle of Cursed), the film features Rachel McAdams as a hotel manager who, on the eponymous flight, meets a charming, bug-eyed lad (Cillian Murphy) who’s also a psychopathic terror subcontractor. He blackmails McAdams into choosing between the murder of her father (Brian Cox) or that of a bellicose Department of Homeland Security head. Reasonably tense, Red Eye is still basically an elongated first act with no corresponding second—perhaps one where McAdams joins an elite squad of hotel manager superagents, or something. Still, if it helps Craven get back to his life work as our most eagle-eyed chronicler of family and class horrors, then hey: Thrilling! One hell of a ride!

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