Continuity mistake: The plane they are on changes several times throughout the movie. When it is sitting at the gate in Dallas, and while being pushed back from the gate, it is a Boeing 737. When it is shown taxiing out, it is an Airbus A320. Air to air shots are of a Boeing 767, which is also the same as the interior shots all throughout the movie. The 737 and A320 are narrowbodies, while the 767 is a widebody, commonly configured 2-4-2 like the interior in the movie.
Red Eye (2005)
Plot summary
Directed by: Wes Craven
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Brian Cox, Cillian Murphy, Laura Johnson
Genres: Thriller
Lisa (Rachael McAdams) is a trusted employee at a big hotel in Miami where a politician, Keefe, and his family are coming to stay. Jackson Ripner (Cillian Murphy) is hired to assassinate the whole Keefe family (because of a recent controversal comment Keefe made). For their plan to work, they need to switch the Keefe family from their usual room to a room that faces the sea. Then assassins will fire a missile from a boat at the room and kill the Keefe family.
They plan on threatening Lisa into pulling some strings and switching the rooms, but she had to fly to Houston to attend her grandmother's funeral.
On the return trip, Lisa is trapped on the plane next to Jackson, who tells her that she must call the hotel and convince them to switch the rooms or he will tell a hitman to kill her father.
Rebecca
More mistakes in Red Eye
Lisa Reisert: Is it Jack for short?
Jackson Ripner: No. I haven't gone by Jack since I was ten years old. Last name's Ripner.
Lisa Reisert: Jack Ripner... Jack the... Oh!
Jackson Ripner: There you go.
Lisa Reisert: That wasn't very nice of your parents.
Jackson Ripner: That's what I told them. Before I killed them.
Trivia: When in the plane's bathroom, in an early take Cillian Murphy threw Rachel McAdams so hard against the bathroom wall that he knocked her unconscious. If you look at the shot used in the movie where he throws her against the wall, you can see his hand in her hair protecting her head so he didn't hurt her again. Not a mistake, as he's not trying to knock her out in the film, just rough her up, but worth looking for.
Answer: It's a political assassination plot. Jackson is an operative working for the terrorist organization that was hired to kill Keefe, the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. It's nothing personal or of interest to Jackson, just another job. He even mentioned to Lisa that it was only business when she asks why he's doing it.
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