'Red Eye' — The movie

I decided to live dangerously yesterday and went to the 2:25 p.m. showing of "Red Eye," Wes Craven's new thriller.

Although the early reviews were dreadful, the latest, in the Financial Times and the Economist, were very favorable so I decided to take a walk on the wild side and actually go to a movie theater to see it instead of waiting a few more months for the DVD.

I figured that since the movie's been out for over a month, and school's back in session, the early Wednesday afternoon matinee shouldn't be too replete with talkers and the like.

Lucky me: there were only two other people in the mid-sized multiplex auditorium.

Great movie: tense from the get–go but not close–your–eyes scary, which I do not like at all because I get nightmares.

Rachel McAdams is one of the most naturally beautiful actresses in motion pictures: not an iota of plastic surgery anywhere, a rare thing indeed these days.

Good thing for us: the extreme close–ups in this movie make perfection a requirement.

Not just a pretty face, either: she's excellent, as is her suitably creepy co–star, Cillian Murphy, who himself has been to the plastic surgery chop shop for a bizarre–looking nose job that nevertheless seems to have worked well enough to propel him into a major role in a big picture.

Another nice thing about the film is that it's just long enough: 85 minutes.

Also, it's an excellent way to refresh your memory, in case you haven't been on a plane in a while, about how unpleasant the whole airport and air travel experience has become.

You can watch the film's trailer here.