The Cillian Murphy Thriller On Streaming That Is Finding A New Audience
Long before Cillian Murphy wowed critics with his performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer, he led the 2005 film Red Eye, which is currently available to stream on Paramount+. Though the film was a critical and audience success, bringing in over $95 million on a budget of only $26 million, it has been largely forgotten in the public consciousness.
Cillian Murphy is an intense, and creepy, villian in Red Eye, a Wes Craven thriller streaming on Paramount+.
That is, at least, until it was recently remastered in 4K, and covered by the crew over at GenreVision, who have reinvigorated interest to their many listeners, inspiring sales of the film’s physical copies to go through the roof.
The film serves as one of legendary horror thriller filmmaker Wes Craven’s final directorial ventures, as well as one of Cillian Murphy’s breakout roles, hitting theaters the same year as Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. Red Eye was written by Unhinged writer Carl Ellsworth, and scored by Marco Beltrami.
Many fans of the film may recall seeing an extended version with deleted scenes, as the film frequently aired on the ABC network throughout the late oughts into the early 2010s with additional footage cut from the streaming version.
Cillian Murphy leads Red Eye as Jackson Rippner, a cunning and handsome domestic terrorist with a plot to assassinate the United States Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Jack Scalia’s Charles Keefe. After successfully charming Rachel McAdams‘ Lisa Reisert, a hotel manager responsible for handling the Deputy Secretary’s reservation, Rippner follows her onto a red eye flight and attempts to intimidate her into assisting with his scheme.
It is soon revealed, through Cillian Murphy’s menacing performance, that the terrorists need Reisert to cooperate in order to carry out their plot.
What follows is an intense and thrilling game of sky-bound cat and mouse as Rachel McAdams‘ character attempts a number of tricks to escape the clutches of Murphy’s character during the red eye flight without alerting the other passengers to the danger.
Unbeknownst to the terrorists, Reisert’s tragic backstory propels her to behave with reckless abandon in the face of powerlessness, causing a powerful standoff.
In addition to excellent performances from both Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy, Red Eye features an incredible performance from Succession‘s Brian Cox, who appears as Reisert’s father, Joe.
Cillian Murphy isn’t the only star in Red Eye, which also features Rachel McAdams and Brian Cox.
In order to keep Reisert from alerting the authorities or fellow passengers on board the flight, Murphy’s team of terrorists have kidnapped Brian Cox with the intention of using him as a bargaining chip. Clearly, the film shows a very different side of the Academy Award-winning performer than we’re used to seeing in Succession.
The film opened to critical praise and big box office numbers, ranking second on opening weekend behind the popular Steve Carrell comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
Cillian Murphy’s career received a massive boost shortly after the film’s release, going on to star in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy shortly thereafter. Red Eye has since become a cult classic, appearing on television a number of times since its initial box office run.
Though Cillian Murphy became a household name after the success of Red Eye, the film seems to have left the scope of public consciousness since the turn of the decade. This left many fans of the GenreVision podcast to express that they had vague memories of the film, though they couldn’t specifically recall any fine details.
After discussing the film at length, the team behind GenreVision emphatically agreed that the movie was an intense thriller that keeps its energy high and engaging throughout the entire runtime, recommending Red Eye to their loyal base of listeners and fans.
Red Eye is now available as a 4K Blu-Ray, spurred by the impending Cillian Murphy blockbuster Oppenheimer.
Likely inspired by the fervor over Cillian Murphy’s upcoming leading performance in Oppenheimer, the 4K Blu-ray of Red Eye first went on sale to the public on March 21 earlier this year.
In Oppenheimer, Murphy is set to portray the so-called godfather of the atomic bomb, whose search for scientific discovery forever changed humanity’s relationship with war, peace, and the planet Earth. The film is also set to star an incredible A-list cast, including Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Kenneth Branagh, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, and many more.
Now that Cillian Murphy has cemented himself as one of the biggest names in Hollywood, it’s as good a time as ever to dive deep into his illustrious career. Red Eye is available to purchase on 4K blu ray or stream on Paramount+ today.
