BEFORE: I've got just 60 slots left for movies this year before I take my holiday break, and for the most part, those films are locked in. I reserve the right to mess around with the ORDER of those 60 films, but you readers don't need to worry about that. I chose this film because it seemed to follow after the 9/11 topic of danger on a plane - but as I said before, I could have easily transitioned into MidEast war films like "A Mighty Heart" and "Zero Dark Thirty". But I saw the way to link from "Reign Over Me" - Adam Sandler was also in "The Hot Chick" with Rachel McAdams (last seen in "Mean Girls").
THE PLOT: A woman is kidnapped by a stranger on a routine flight. Threatened by the potential murder of her father, she is pulled into a plot to assist her captor in offing a politician.
AFTER: Another reason for watching this film tonight - it's relatively short, at just 1 hr. 25 min. I started it just after midnight, and I had to get up early this morning to try out for "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", something I've done three times before, with limited success. I've always passed the written test, but then the next step is a chat with a contestant coordinator, sort of a "personality test", and it seems I've always failed that part. But there's new hope, as a new season of the show is taping, with a new host, and new personnel, so I gave up half my workday to take the test.
Oh, the test only takes 10 minutes, but then they don't give you the results until you sit in the audience while they tape three shows. This is how they get such an enthusiastic crowd - everyone there still thinks they've got a shot at being a contestant themselves, at least until the test results are read. Finally after getting up at 6 am (OK, 6:30...) showering, picking out a nice shirt, taking the subway in to Manhattan 3 hours earlier than I usually do, heading uptown, signing in, filling out forms, taking the test, and applauding wildly for other contestants for about 2 hours, I found that I was one of 5 people who'd passed the written test.
Now, the harder challenge for me - the interview. I'm not one to act silly in front of strangers usually (I save that for my friends...) but one must do what one must to play the game - so even though I was bored and tired, I tried my best to smile and have some energy while they asked me questions about what I do for a living, and what I'd do with the money if I won. I think I did better than I have in the past, because they sent me to see a SECOND contestant coordinator, and she videotaped me acting excited and jumping around like I'd just won a lot of cash, then answering a few trivia questions. I guess they want to see if you just blurt out the answer, or if you can reason it out verbally so the people at home can hear your thought process. This is the part of the test that I never know how well I did, until I get a postcard in the mail with a big "YES" or "NO" on it.
Hmm, can I relate this experience to the film "Red Eye"? Probably not, but that won't stop me from trying. The main character her is put in a difficult situation, and the way she reacts to this situation will have a large impact on the outcome. (There, close enough...) This is a spin on those sort of "locked room" stories I was talking about last week - I was referring to the movie "Tape", which takes place in a hotel room, but an airplane cabin works just as well. While the plane is in the air, nobody can leave, nobody can enter, so the only contact with the outside world is through those credit-card phones.
But that's exactly what the villain needs her to do - make one phone call to a specific person, arrange one thing, and then someone important will be at risk. But if she doesn't do this, then her own father will be threatened. It's a terrible choice, and she appears to be at the mercy of this ruthless kidnapper and part-time assassin. She can't alert the stewardesses, she can't call for help, she can't even write someone a message. How to get out of this situation?
At least it's an original idea. Eventually the plane lands and the rules of the game are changed, which is good because there was no apparent way to end the stand-off without changing it up. And to make up for the limited action in the confined space of the plane, the last half hour is action-packed.
It seems the kidnapper didn't really realize the sort of person he was dealing with - much like the TV producers today who didn't realize that a trivia champ was sitting in the audience. So I guess the joke was on them. Oh, and one of my questions directly related to one of those high-school films I watched two weeks ago - so if my score was on the bubble, then that justifies this whole crazy process, now, doesn't it?
Also starring Cillian Murphy (last seen in "The Dark Knight Rises"), Brian Cox (last seen in "The Boxer"), Jack Scalia, Jayma Mays (last seen in "The Smurfs"), Angela Paton, and Colby "Top Shot" Donaldson.
RATING: 5 out of 10 carry-on bags
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