When Lisa finds herself seated by Jackson on the plane, he immediately drops his facade. As it turns out, he’s part of a terrorist organization, and he needs Lisa to make a pivotal call for him, or he says he will have her father executed. As Murphy suggests, it’s all a bit ridiculous, but his performance helps sell the premise.
Like many dangerous killers throughout history, Jackson is charismatic and likable in “Red Eye” until it’s time to start the game. The suddenness of the change is intense and might shock viewers who watch the movie without knowing the plot. For her part, Rachel McAdams said that she also enjoyed Murphy’s performance as the film’s antagonist.
“They say the nicest people sometimes make the best villains,” McAdams told GQ. “We’d listen to music and gab away while doing the crossword puzzle, which he brought every day and would graciously let me chime in on,” she recalled. While “Red Eye” is unlikely to be remembered among the actor’s best work, as Murphy said, it’s a solid enough B movie, and coming in at a brisk 85 minutes, it’s worth taking a risk on.
