Friday 20 January 2012

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:2005
Country of origin:USA
Director:Wes Craven
Genre:Airborne thriller
Starring:Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy
Rating:4/5
IMDB link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421239/
Tagline:Fear Takes Flight
Favourite line:Yes, I do... and after you finish, you can go ahead and just shove it up your ass.

Wes Craven is a funny old bird.
His directorial career has been something of a rollercoaster ride, from the horrendous flops (The People Under the Stairs, Vampire in Brooklyn) to the mega-hit (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream), and this under-rated gem dropped out of his nether-regions with barely a mention.
It's damn good too.

Rachel McAdams plays Lisa Reisert who is befriended by Cillian Murphy's creepy Jackson Rippner (get it) as she is waiting for a plane to Miami. She works at a large, expensive hotel and is in charge of looking after the V.I.P's whims and fancies. Charles Keefe is one such V.I.P. and, it turns out, Rippner is a hired hitman who blackmails Reisert into making a call to the hotel to switch Keefe's room, else her father will die.

And that's it plotwise.
It's a short movie, clocking in at just over twenty minutes, and this is a good thing as it means there is very little fat on the bones. There simply isn't the running time for long expositional phases or character building interchange.
No, after the initial scenes at the airport, this is straight down to business.
Murphy is suitably unnerving as the main villain, and McAdams is pleasant enough both on the eye and ear for the duration, and gets to kick some serious arse towards the end of the film, which is highly entertaining.
Reminiscent of Phone Booth in its setup, this is a neat, efficient thriller that should appeal to most.

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