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Bleary-eyed

2 stars

Here’s my latest theory. Movie studios make the previews first before they make the movie. They watch them and try to discern whether they could be fleshed out to feature length. Usually they say yes. They almost never say no. This is why there is a constant barrage of mediocre garbage steadily marching over the horizon line and into our theaters.

I thought the trailer for “Red Eye” was kind of creepy. Cillian Murphy is nothing if not creepy. He makes your skin crawl like any good matinee psycho. That’s about all I can tell you involving his character. For most of “Red Eye,” you’re left up in the air. This movie isn’t about the details. It’s about being a victim.

Rachel McAdams plays a hotel manager who can handle any sort of crisis involving disgruntled travelers. While she’s on a flight to Miami or somewhere, (I wasn’t really paying attention.) Rachel strikes up a conversation with droopy-eyed Murphy as she waits for her delayed flight. Amazingly he charms her with his smooth creep-like ways and they end up sitting together on the same flight. Coincidence? I think not.

No, Cillian is some kind of assassin, though it’s never made clear. He’s not nice though. He makes Miss Goody-two-shoes call her hotel from the airplane and change some bigwig’s room so the bigwig and his family can be bazooka-ed out of their beds by a boatload of unnamed terrorists. I’m not making this up. This is the movie.

The bigwig is some sort of senator or alderman. I’m not sure. (I wasn’t really paying attention.) Anyway, they’re going to kill him. It’s a bad thing. If McAdams doesn’t make the call, then Murphy will phone his buddy who is waiting outside her father’s home. He will give him the signal to shoot Daddy. Daddy’s in danger, get it?

So anyway, creepy Cillian taunts and torments Rachel while everyone else in coach somehow remains oblivious to his behavior. Except for a little girl who’s never flown before. She’s so sweet and innocent that she alone has the purity of heart to tell when a whacko is on board.

There’s the dreaded scene in the bathroom where Rachel tries to leave a message on the mirror written in soap. Cillian is lurking just outside the door and barges in as she tries to leave. They wrestle around in the tiny water closet. They are really making a ruckus in there. The stewardess merely assumes that they were in there for a rendezvous. She mutters something to them in disgust. I didn’t quite catch it. (I wasn’t really paying attention.)

Eventually, Rachel stabs the creep in the throat with a pen and escapes through a sea of disembarking passengers. A chase ensues through the airport and concludes at Rachel’s father’s house. A string of “Home Alone” antics follow until Daddy shoots the creep dead. The end.

Just another day in the life of a perky hotel manager. La de da!

This is a far cry from Wes Craven’s “Last House on the Left,” and it certainly isn’t Freddie Kruger. I’m not sure what this is. I guess it’s supposed to be a suspenseful thriller or something. I don’t know. (I wasn’t really paying attention.)