After attending her grandmother's funeral, Lisa Reisert arrives at Dallas Love Field to take a red-eye flight back to Miami, Florida.

While waiting to board Fresh Air flight 1019, a Boeing 767-300 from Dallas to Miami, they share a drink at the airport bar and engage in small talk.

After takeoff, his charming demeanor quickly turns sinister as he informs her that he works for a domestic terrorist organization planning to assassinate Charles Keefe, the current United States Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security.

Jackson orders Lisa to make a call to move the Keefe family to a suite where a missile launched from a boat in the harbor will strike.

As the plane lands at Miami International Airport, Lisa reveals having been the victim of a violent rape at knifepoint two years earlier.

After expressing her determination to fight to the end, she stabs Jackson in the throat with a ballpoint pen, grabs his phone, and flees the plane.

Lisa returns to the hotel to provide assistance, where Keefe praises both women and thanks them for what they did to save his life with the rest of his family.

In March 2004, it was announced DreamWorks Pictures had purchased Red Eye, a script written by Carl Ellsworth described by trades as Phone Booth on a plane.

The site's consensus states: "With solid performances and tight direction from Wes Craven, Red Eye is a brisk, economic thriller.

[9] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film 3.5/4 stars calling it the "best thriller of summer 2005", and a "gripping suspense [that] will pin you to your seat".

[11] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the film a "nifty, tense thriller" and said that the casting of the two leads is "a nice surprise".

[13] Variety's Robert Koehler stated that "Red Eye relies on hoodwinking an audience with its tension, so that the sheer illogic of the conspiracy plot can slip by without detection" but complimented McAdams for finding "new and interesting ways of silently projecting fear".

"[16] In 2024, he recalled that Red Eye is not among his favorites: "I love Rachel McAdams and we had fun making it but I don’t think it’s a good movie.