Red Eye

7.5/10. Saw this Saturday afternoon at the Alhambra in Bern.

There are few glitch-free thrillers out there, and this movie certainly has some furrow-inducing moments. However, thanks to Wes Craven's sharp direction and Rachel McAdams' performance, Red Eye adds up to a solid and satisfying contribution to the genre.

Here I had been planning to go on a bit about McAdams, but then I read Roger Ebert's review and discovered that he had more or less taken the words out of my mouth. I would link you to his review, but it contains some of what I would consider spoilers. So instead I'll reprint selected text and hope I don't get sued:

"The rise of Rachel McAdams has been spectacular, if only because it has been so steep; in 2002, she had eighth billing in The Hot Chick. The only thing better would have been ninth billing. But then in 2004 she starred in Mean Girls, as the bitchiest girl in Lindsay Lohan’s high school. It was a surprisingly good movie, and then came a straight romantic lead in The Notebook and a comic romantic lead in Wedding Crashers, where Owen Wilson fell in love with her and caught a heart-warming case of sincerity. Now this.

"The previous three movies positioned McAdams as a rising star. Red Eye will be more important, because casting directors, who know what to look for, will see that she brings more presence and credibility to her role than is really expected; she acts without betraying the slightest awareness that she’s inside a genre... Too many young Hollywood actors, especially in thrillers, think it’s all about them. Her performance qualifies her for heavy-duty roles."

See? It's not just me. And he won a Pulitzer.

The position that McAdams is now in is an interesting one. In the last 18 months, she's been featured in four successful movies in four fairly different roles. With box-office success in her pocket, and having thus far avoided typecasting, McAdams can pretty much take her career in any direction she pleases. Let's hope she doesn't screw it up.