RED EYE —–after a genial ‘accidental’ meeting at airport check in, later on the same flight, ‘coincidentally’ seated next to each other, ‘Lisa’ and ‘Jack’ flirt a bit. LISA: “So what is it you do?”  JACK: “Government overthrows, flashy high-profile assassinations. The usual.” LISA: “O.K. Why don’t you just tell me what you do?” JACK: “I already did.”

Luxury hotel manager ‘Lisa’ (Rachel McAdams), soon finds her friendly seat-mate on her overnight flight is rather less nice than he appears. ‘Jackson’ (Cillian Murphy) coolly informs her he’s going to her Miami hotel workplace not for a tan but in order to facilitate the assassination of the Homeland Security Director.  If she doesn’t play along her father in Fort Worth will be killed. Giving away more spoils the fun. It’s a far-fetched scenario, hinging on conveniences, but thanks to director Wes Craven’s skill at piloting the action over a tightly wrapped 85 minutes, it works like a Swiss watch.

Some good banter, a nasty bad guy with unsettling blue eyes to hate, and a smart, pretty and charming heroine in the person of McAdams make for a swell popcorn-wolfing excuse. It doesn’t pretend to be anything more than a bing-bang serving of suspense; as such, it locks, loads and bulls-eyes from start to finish. Not everything has to have some deeper meaning chained to it. The $26,000,000 thriller was a comfy hit, grossing $95,600,000. With Brian Cox, Jayma Mays and Angela Paton. Adroit score is by Marco Beltrami.