Headscratchers / Red Eye

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• He has been tailing her for two weeks to find out what her favorite drink is, yet she is the only one who can get the targets room changed in the time they need? Two weeks seems like enough time to figure something else out.
  • Considering the situation, the plan they went with was probably the simplest/best one. She was emotionally traumatized, helpless, and loved her father. The whole point of the movie was that they didn't know she had the backbone to refuse.
  • Listen to Keefe's reaction when they say Lisa authorised the room change. It's said that he's a regular customer there, and it implies that Lisa dealt with him regularly - the only reason she isn't doing so now is because she's out of town. Keefe trusts Lisa, so that's why she is chosen.
• Wasn't it difficult for Lisa to run in heels? She does trip at one point, but it was a little impractical and must have hurt a lot. It would have probably been much easier (and faster?) to run if she had taken them off. Granted, there's a Psycho for Hire running after her, but still. (... But then again, she wouldn't have the Broken Heel to stab him with, huh?)
  • This Troper is a drag queen, and trust me, it's not that hard to run in heels. Besides, would you want to run around an airport shoeless?
  • It's better to run in heels than potentially cut or bruise your feet.
  • Lisa clearly comes from an athletic background - field hockey in school - so it's not unreasonable to think she's able to run in her heels.
  • And possibly Lisa was running on pure adrenaline at that point, so she didn't think of it. Her feet were probably quite sore the next day though.
• Rippner is a master hitman, as he tells Lisa on the flight. So why in the world does his master assassination plot involve firing a rocket at a hotel room from a boat, necessitating Rippner buying a ticket for a flight (probably there and back), arranging for a hitman to be posted outside an old man's house miles away for several hours, and depending on threats to a stranger in the middle of a long-haul flight to put the last and most important piece of the plot in place for him? Really? That was the best way to kill the guy?!
  • He never says anything along the lines of being a hitman (Lisa even poses this question to him, with him responding that he's a terrible shot). He's a "manager" - he just makes sure everything's in place so that the people who hired him can carry out THEIR hit. In all likelihood, he didn't come up with the master assassination plot at all.
  • Don't they intentionally want to kill the whole family? Rippner seems to imply that's the case. So they have to wait until the family are all together in the same location - a hotel room is a good option, and one by the sea to allow for them to shoot from afar.
  • Another thing to remember - Lisa suddenly had to be out of town because of her grandmother's funeral. Possibly Rippner's plan was originally to corner her somewhere else and threaten her that way, also not letting her out of his sight until the hit was carried out. But her grandmother died and sheer bad luck on their part meant she'd be out of town and flying back on the very day they'd be carrying out the hit. As Lisa is very valuable to them (as soon as Keefe hears she authorized the room change, he accepts it without question) they possibly went to that effort to salvage the plan from what it originally was.
• The flight attendant thinks she just caught Lisa and Rippner having sex in the lavatory. Lisa is crying and obviously distressed, Rippner is sickeningly smug. Wouldn't that raise a few red flags? Granted, Lisa couldn't have told her the truth, but why didn't the flight attendant at least ask Lisa if she was okay?
  • Well it was the same flight attendant who had been told that Lisa had a death in the family. For all she knew, they were doing it in the bathroom to make her feel better. She could have just assumed that's why Lisa was crying, or that she was embarrassed about being caught seemingly about to have sex in public.
  • And Rippner's attitude could just have easily been interpreted as him defending his girlfriend from the flight attendant's prudish attitude.
  • And sadly a lot of old women's attitudes would be to look down on Lisa for being a slut rather than assume she's in trouble.
  • A Red Eye is also a late flight, so possibly the attendant is just very tired and went "it's none of my business, just get through this flight."
• How in the heck did Rippner beat Lisa home?
  • He had followed her for eight weeks, which presumably gave him time to memorize all possible routes to her house. Granted, she'd know her way better, but Lisa was in a panic at the time and was trying to make a phone call while driving a (stolen) car and evade the police and Rippner. It's still a bit of a stretch, but it is possible he could swing it.
  • It also isn't stated or shown that he beat her there. He had at least a few minutes to get there between her getting out of the car and him knocking out her dad.
• Why didn't she call the police after getting off the plane? Or get someone else to do it?
  • Her priority is getting away from Rippner and getting to a safe place where she can call Cynthia and her dad. Plus she was being pursued by federal air marshals so calling the police would have been counterintuitive.
  • How exactly did Rippner arrange to sit right next to Lisa on the flight?

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