A great Cillian Murphy thriller movie is airing on TV tonight

The Oscar-winner has said he 'doesn't think it's a good movie'. We disagree.

In the film, Oscar-nominee Rachel McAdams (Spotlight) plays Lisa, a hotel manager waiting to take a red-eye flight from Dallas, Texas, back to her home in Miami, Florida. At the airport, she is charmed by a stranger named Jackson (Murphy) and later thinks it must be luck that they are seated together on the plane.

This is not the case, however. It turns out that Jackson isn't so nice and is actually part of a terrorist plot to assassinate a politician. Because the politician is staying at Lisa's hotel, he needs his plane seatmate to help pull off the plan.

Also starring Brian Cox (Succession) and Jayma Mays (Glee), Red Eye marked Cillian Murphy's first lead role in a US movie.

The film was a box office hit and earned very positive reviews. That said, the Irish actor doesn't rank it as being among his best works.

In a GQ interview with Murphy last year, the topic of Red Eye was raised, particularly how Americans of a certain age still associate the Oppenheimer star with the 2005 thriller.

Responding, the actor said: "Oh, I know, it’s crazy! I think it’s the duality of it. It’s why I wanted to play it. That two thing. The nice guy and the bad guy in one.

"The only reason it appealed to me is you could do... that turn, you know?

“I love Rachel McAdams and we had fun making it," he also told GQ, before adding: “But I don’t think it’s a good movie. It’s a good B movie.”

In our view, however, there is nothing wrong with a B movie and Red Eye is a great one, thanks to Murphy's sinister villain, McAdams' likeable hero and a consistently tense and tight story that plays out in less than 77 minutes.

Red Eye is airing on TV tonight on BBC One at 10.40pm. It's also currently available to stream on Paramount+.

Here are the other movies airing on TV tonight:

Elizabeth - Film4 - 9pm

Cate Blanchett is Elizabeth I of England in this Oscar-winning biographical drama.

Zombieland - Comedy Central - 9pm

The fun zom-rom-com starring Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson.

Red Heat - ITV4 - 9pm

In this solid ’80s action flick, a Russian cop (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is forced to team up with an American detective (Jim Belushi) to take down a dangerous criminal.

Sabotage - Legend - 9pm

Arnie stars again, this time as the leader of a crack team of drug enforcement agents who start getting picked off one by one after stealing a lot of money.

An action thriller that JOE previously described as “absolutely disgusting”.

Crank 2: High Voltage - Legend Xtra - 10.55pm

Jason Statham stars in this action sequel as a hitman who must constantly electrocute himself to stay alive.

Simply, one of the craziest action movies ever.

Die Hard - Film4 - 11.25pm

"Yippee ki yay."