Red Eye
DreamWorks Distribution | Release Date: August 19, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
4
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Will keep you awake, jittery and perched on the edge of your seat for pretty much the entire flight. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The gripping, seat- clutching suspense in this baby will pin you to your seat. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
A good measure of the movie's white-knuckle fun comes from Craven's old-hand familiarity with the way thrillers tick. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
With so much going for it, it's sad that Red Eye goes into such a third-act tailspin and cliched slasher-flick finale. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
May not seem to be your typical Wes Craven movie. It's not really horror, there are no marketable monsters, and unlike "Cursed," "Scream 3" and other recent Craven offerings, it's actually an enjoyable time at the movies. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
A minimalist exercise in maximalist suspense. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
The plot is not absolutely airtight, but Craven's filmmaking is too fast-moving and too involving for this to matter. As a movie, Red-Eye is in every way as well crafted and sharply designed as the Boeing 767 Lisa fatefully boards. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
The casting of the two leads is a nice surprise in Red Eye, as is its modest scale. One of the ironies about the film is that its relatively small-movie feel allows Mr. Craven to focus on the sorts of things - the performances and little bits of business from the extras - that a director like Michael Bay doesn't have time for, partly because he is so busy blowing stuff up. Read full review
80
SalonStephanie Zacharek
When Craven says "Jump!" we all do it at once, and giggle at how easily we've fallen under the spell. The key is that Craven is laughing with us, not at us. Read full review
80
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Red Eye, which is exactly eighty-five minutes long, has been made with classical technique and bravura skill, and it's leaving moviegoers in a rare state of satisfaction. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
McAdams, who resembles a more compact and subtle Geena Davis, captures both the strength and the insecurity beneath her sharp-witted heroine's aim-to-please facade. Read full review
75
PremiereSara Brady
Red Eye packs only about 15 minutes of solid scary, but really, that’s about all the time a human heart can spend lodged in one’s throat. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
A terrific thriller...until it turns into yet another Wes Craven movie. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Murphy, in the boogeyman role, toggles between seductive and sinister with enough conviction to make you forget that his character makes no sense at all. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
The movie is fun, fun, fun. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
In short, Red Eye hits the bull's-eye. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Craven's films aren't showy, but that should never be held against them. In their streamlined construction and rock-solid simplicity lay their brilliance. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Craven ("Scream," "Nightmare on Elm Street") is already a legend in horror film circles, but this is the first time he has tried his hand at a slick, relatively bloodless suspense-thriller, and the genre suits him. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Favoring precision filmmaking over cheap thrills, with a vibe more Alfred Hitchcock than Freddy Krueger, Red Eye establishes two intelligent characters and lets audiences sit back and enjoy an entertaining battle of brains and wills. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Sitting through Red Eye is like watching a master carpenter at work on a custom bookcase. No one would call the result art, but you're sure bound to admire the sheer craft of the thing, the clean lines and seamless joints and meticulous attention to detail. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Helped enormously by Rachel McAdams, whose performance is convincing because she keeps it at ground level; thrillers are invitations to overact, but she remains plausible even when the action ratchets up around her. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Red Eye has a devilish charm. It pulls just about every nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat trick imaginable, yet gets away with it through what is, admittedly, a clever and original gimmick. Read full review
70
VarietyRobert Koehler
Departing less from his horror bailiwick than he did with "Music Of The Heart" in 1999, Wes Craven retains shocks but dispenses with scares in the negligible Red Eye. Read full review
70
Village VoiceDennis Lim
Craven's terror-alert white-knuckler is zippy, unpretentious. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
If constructing a thriller could be likened to building a house, then Wes Craven's Red Eye is a perfect piece of architecture: It's clean-lined and soundly structured, without a foot of wasted space or any materials left unused. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJoshua Katzman
If you're willing to suspend disbelief, this is a pretty good ride. Read full review
70
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
Craven eschews horror trappings and gore for a well-paced and engaging thriller that keeps the audience involved despite the fact that most of what takes place onscreen is a conversation between two people. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
That's not to say it's great; it's not. Maybe it's not to say it's good, because it's only sort of good. It is to say, however, that it's nifty. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Red Eye's no classic, but with its smart, twisty little script and those two killer performances, it is a helluva lot of fun. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A silly script and uneven pacing. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Unfortunately, Red Eye goes from being a powerful thriller to a far more predictable story of revenge. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
After nearly a decade of duds, Wes Craven reasserts his claim to being a master of suspense with this solid little airborne thriller. Read full review
60
EmpireLiz Beardsworth
Not the most sophisticated psychological thriller, yet slick fun. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Despite some fast-paced direction by Wes Craven, Red Eye finally gets so silly, it's practically popping its wing-rivets. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Between them, first-time screenwriter Carl Ellsworth and director Wes Craven don't come up with a single clever way to generate suspense, and the movie's onboard atmosphere is so phony. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
A one-trick action thriller that feels like a poor cousin of an episode of ''24." Call it ''12." Read full review
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