EAGLE EYE is a damn good thriller! For a two hour movie, it should brings you that fast-paced, high octane action and chase scenes that will get your heart pumping so fast, you’re gonna need a second to breathe after each scene. From beginning to… the end, the movie takes you in for a wild ride and doesn’t let go. For a movie that opens in the fall season, it sure feels like it should’ve opened in the summer. EAGLE EYE is a cat and mouse game that is not about one outsmarting his opponent but it’s literally about running as fast as you can before time runs out, the clock is ticking and you’ve been activated.
“Eagle Eye” is a race-against-time thriller starring Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, Anthony Mackie and Billy Bob Thornton. Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) and Rachel Holloman (Monaghan) are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, she pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of increasingly dangerous situations – using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move. As the situation escalates, these two ordinary people become the country’s most wanted fugitives, who must work together to discover what is really happening – and more importantly, why.
There’s not a slow moment in this movie, everything is like go, go, go! Scenes of dialogue between the characters are done in a way that is as rapid as the guys who change tires at the Nascar pit as the race goes on. I like how this is a thriller but also part action and part adventure because the characters will take you from one place to another because you never know what kind of assignment they would be forced to do next.
The first half of the movie, the story keeps you guessing, halfway through the end, you can definitely put all the pieces of the puzzle together but it’s not that predictable and you won’t get disappointed by how they all fit together for the conclusion. You know how they’d say that some movies will “keep you at the edge of your seat”, EAGLE EYE is definitely one of them. There’s enough chaos and destruction and visual effect and stuntwork, aimed to do nothing but heighten the level of entertainment. I love how director DJ Caruso orchestrated the car crashes on the streets, the camera gets so up close and quickly moves from one shot to the other that you’d feel like the cars are about to jump out of the screen. It’s impressive really how they’d destroy the cop cars, specifically. You’d just gotta see it for yourself.
The computer that happens to be the mastermind of the whole crazy operation reminds me of Hal from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey and the evil spaceship from Event Horizon. But this computer, however, is a lot more intelligent and sneaky. It knows which system to infiltrate to put its plan into action. Its home base however could’ve been designed in a more original manner though, because it reminds me too much of that one place in X-Men movies where Prof. Xavier would locate any mutant from all over the world.
Another thing that bugs me just a little bit about EAGLE EYE is… throughout the movie makes it seem so difficult to defeat the electronic villain but then one character strikes it down so easily, I mean.. they shuld’ve thought of that method, derr!
I think Shia LaBeouf is good in this kind of role, running around like the devil’s chasing him (Transformers, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) and this is probably his first role that shows him as an adult and I gotta hand it to him, the kid can act. I’m not sure about people calling him the next Tom Hanks, but Shia’s acting is.. not too shaby. Michelle Monahan is convincing as a single mom. The badass Michael Chicklis nails his part as the Defense Secretary who doesn’t want a Cou d’etat in his hands. Billy Bob Thornton does excellent as one of those lawmen who misunderstood at first but then gets it and helps out the good guys. All of them work well in keeping up with the pace of the storyline. Speaking of pace, the fastness of it all is like a combo of the series 24 and Prison Break, which are two of my favorite TV shows. Plus the movie’s original score by Brian Tyler helps us stay alert.
Last but not least, the story is politically motivated, or at least triggered by it. Some may call this another liberal Hollywood take on today’s current political situation, pointing fingers at the government. The way I see it,… after all the movies about mankind betraying nature and then nature fights back to hurt mankind, it’s kinda cool to see it happen in a slightly different manner…. mankind betrays computer and then computer fights back, labeling mankind, specifically the current regime as a high priority target that needs to be eliminated. The things we do in the name of liberty could be so compromising that it might even hurt liberty itself in the process. The movie uses everything that America stands for to somewhat justify why the EAGLE EYE has to do what it thinks must be done.
* Click on the image below to check my grade for this film
