Posted on 08/19/2005 9:19:08 AM PDT by Cool Chick
[CHECK SCHLUSSEL's SITE, www.debbieschlussel.com, FOR THE FUNNY PIX IN THIS POST (I couldn't figure out how to post them here.)]
After seeing Wes Craven's (Freddy Kruger of "Nightmare on Elm Street") "Red Eye" (in theaters, today), I've changed my mind on my earlier trepidations about this movie. Overall, "Red Eye" is one of the few exciting movies this summer. With all of the sequels, remakes, etc., "Red Eye" is certainly one of the few originals and one of the few with an interesting plot.
The plot: A terrorist corners a luxury resort hotel manager on a red-eye flight. He blackmails her into changing the hotel room of the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, so that terrorists can launch a Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM)into his suite. (This is NOT a spoiler. The missile going toward the room is featured on a lot of the TV trailers for "Red Eye.")
The plot is not only very plausible, but the use of SAMs to target a hotel floor or suite is a very real threat, as we learned when Al-Qaeda tried to use SAMs to bring down an Israeli plane over Kenya in late 2002, and was nearly successful.
Some comments by posters on this site predicted I would hate "Red Eye" because the main terrorist, Jackson Ripner, played by Cillian Murphy (of Irish descent and with blue eyes), was not Islamic. But, actually, it turns out the terrorists, for whom he works, are likely Islamic. Before the missile is launched, you can hear those for whom Murphy is working speaking almost inaudibly. If you listen carefully and speak Russian, as I do (but most American moviegoers don't), they are saying, "Adin, Dva, Tri, Chetiri," which translates to "One, Two, Three, Four." They are, therefore, likely, Chechnyan terrorists.
My one criticism of the movie would be that they don't tell or impress upon you whether the terrorists are Muslim, in another politically correct move, designed to dodge the criticisms of Islamist groups, like CAIR.
Other observations:
* It's doubtful terrorists would try to attack the DEPUTY Secretary of Homeland Security, as opposed to the main guy. That said, the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security is played by former Armani and underwear model, the handsome (even in his 50s), suave, and debonair Jack Scalia (real-life third draft pick in 1971 Major League Baseball draft--Montreal Expos). I know many DHS agents and employees, and while some are very handsome (sorry, Abu Moskowitz, not you), but take a look at Scalia versus the real Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. They've definitely glammed things up. (Looks would not matter if DHS was actually doing its job of protecting us. It isn't.)
[GREAT PICS, see Schlussel's site.]
* The Deputy Sec. of Homeland Security stays weekly in a giant suite atop a luxury beachside resort, complete with regular complimentary Cuban cigars and Krystal champagne. In real life, DHS officials are neither allowed to waste tax dollars on such largesse, nor to accept such extravagant free gifts (especially goods from Cuba)--strictly prohibited.
* Terrorist Jack Ripner looks too much like a glammed up version of NBC "terrorism expert" Evan Kohlmann (minus the goatee).
[GREAT PICS, See Schlussel's Site.]
* Another face we see too much of in "Red Eye" is "Survivor's" Colby Donaldson (who plays a Secret Service agent). No-one who wasted 39 days of life in an Australian desert for CBS should get to be in a major motion picture. Leave that to the real, left-wing actors, so they will be occupied with something and stay out of politics.
* An old, familiar face from the past, Robert Pine, the police chief from "CHiPs," plays an angry hotel guest. What, no Ponch & Jon?
Chechens wouldn't count down in Russian. They speak Chechen.
bump
To my knowledge, they speak both languages. How else would they have communicated with the Beslan hostages? They spoke to them in Russian.
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