I know movie reviews largely go unnoticed seen as how this is predominantly a gaming site, but it's been too long since I reviewed something and I'm feeling productive.
Eagle eye is a modern day thriller set to examine the threat of cyber-terrorism and modern societies reliance upon easily manipulated technology. The opening scene of the movie perplexed me a little as the picture begins with a terror suspect in the middle east being observed by the US military, and the suspect terrorist being ever so discretely blown to kingdom come by two missiles fired from an unmanned drone, in the middle of a funeral no less. Good job guys, that won't draw much attention or get many questions asked.
We are then suddenly dropped into the life of copy store worker Jerry Shaw. We see him struggling to keep up with the rent and having to endure his mundane job, only to then see him have to deal with the death of his twin brother. When returning home to cash a check from his distant seeming father, Jerry finds a rather substantial sum of cash in his bank account and when he returns home a rather substantial collection of weapons and explosives in his apartment. This is when Jerry receives the first of a series of mysterious phone calls with a woman's voice on the other end, that eventually lead him to meeting with a single mother, Rachel Holloman. The duo are then forced into taking on a variety of tasks directed by the mysterious voice under penalty of death. You are taught pretty early that the mysterious woman also has access to pretty much any and all technology connected to a network or the internet, terrifying and bamboozling Jerry and Rachel to no end along their journey.
Without trying to give too much away, the story of this film was by far and away the most enjoyable part. The impenetrable mystique surrounding the voice on the phone and the death of Jerry's brother was more than enough to hold my attention for the duration of the film. The big reveal of the antagonist's final motive does not come as a surprise though as I had long before put 2+2 together concerning the purpose of Jerry and Rachel's escapades. I had hoped for something a little less conventional than the pretty generic final aim of the woman on the phone, but Eagle Eye is every bit as much about the journey as it is the destination.
I was pleasantly surprised about the depth of some of the characters in Eagle Eye. Jerry Shaw seemed to be well fleshed out and the director went through great trouble to try and communicate Jerry's attitude and personality to the audience, particularly in the first part of the film. He is consistently portrayed as the stereotypical younger child, forever living in his brother's shadow, especially in the eyes of his parents, and he resorts to non-conformity and striving for independence as a result. Not many action/thrillers take the time to give the audience the proper introductions to the characters, and although it's nothing particularly exceptional, it's a very welcome feature in a film of this genre.
All the performances are pretty solid, Shia LaBeouf (God he has some cruel parents!) delivers the goods again consistently, as he has done in pretty much all of his recent film work. There will be no Oscars for best actor going anywhere near Eagle Eye, but everybody from Rosario Dawson to Billy Bob Thornton gives a good show.
Is it worth mentioning the brilliant action scenes in films like this anymore? I'm beginning to run out of adjectives to describe CGI and chase scenes in films like this. It's very rare that movies with such a high budget skimp on such a basic thing now as the special effects. The camera shots, computer graphics and pyrotechnics all make for an exhilarating thrill ride, and this film can boast some of the more epic chase scenes I've seen in a while. Some suspension of disbelief is required for a few of the action sequences, but so long as they are mildly possible and look damn cool then they're OK by me.
In summation I will say that this film overall is a pretty gripping watch, and if you're anything like me you'll remain engrossed for most of the duration. However there is something about this film that does not quite sit right with me. It may be the personal comparisons I drew with the main villain or something else I can't quite extrapolate upon further. Although technically very good, when I left the cinema, me nor any of my friends were raving about Eagle Eye as at least one of us usually is when exiting the cinema. It was given a uniform "meh" from all six of us which was bloody strange. Worth seeing, a good action flick and a good story but lacks any real sparkle.
Eagle eye is a modern day thriller set to examine the threat of cyber-terrorism and modern societies reliance upon easily manipulated technology. The opening scene of the movie perplexed me a little as the picture begins with a terror suspect in the middle east being observed by the US military, and the suspect terrorist being ever so discretely blown to kingdom come by two missiles fired from an unmanned drone, in the middle of a funeral no less. Good job guys, that won't draw much attention or get many questions asked.
We are then suddenly dropped into the life of copy store worker Jerry Shaw. We see him struggling to keep up with the rent and having to endure his mundane job, only to then see him have to deal with the death of his twin brother. When returning home to cash a check from his distant seeming father, Jerry finds a rather substantial sum of cash in his bank account and when he returns home a rather substantial collection of weapons and explosives in his apartment. This is when Jerry receives the first of a series of mysterious phone calls with a woman's voice on the other end, that eventually lead him to meeting with a single mother, Rachel Holloman. The duo are then forced into taking on a variety of tasks directed by the mysterious voice under penalty of death. You are taught pretty early that the mysterious woman also has access to pretty much any and all technology connected to a network or the internet, terrifying and bamboozling Jerry and Rachel to no end along their journey.
Without trying to give too much away, the story of this film was by far and away the most enjoyable part. The impenetrable mystique surrounding the voice on the phone and the death of Jerry's brother was more than enough to hold my attention for the duration of the film. The big reveal of the antagonist's final motive does not come as a surprise though as I had long before put 2+2 together concerning the purpose of Jerry and Rachel's escapades. I had hoped for something a little less conventional than the pretty generic final aim of the woman on the phone, but Eagle Eye is every bit as much about the journey as it is the destination.
One thing that I found very humourous and a bit disappointing in this film was that the man villain was basically Glados from Portal. I kid you not, giant manipulative very powerful computer with a woman's voice, but nowhere near as funny. I fear the writer may have been taking inspiration from Valve's classic when creating the concept of this film but left out the companion cube to try and dodge the plagiarism lawsuit. Whenever ARIA (the name given to the machine) was mentioned after that I could not help but think about the glaring similarities to Glados and also HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Ultimately ARIA not being a particularly original bad guy distracted me from the film somewhat, thinking that Valve and Kubrick had both done this villain before and done it better.
I was pleasantly surprised about the depth of some of the characters in Eagle Eye. Jerry Shaw seemed to be well fleshed out and the director went through great trouble to try and communicate Jerry's attitude and personality to the audience, particularly in the first part of the film. He is consistently portrayed as the stereotypical younger child, forever living in his brother's shadow, especially in the eyes of his parents, and he resorts to non-conformity and striving for independence as a result. Not many action/thrillers take the time to give the audience the proper introductions to the characters, and although it's nothing particularly exceptional, it's a very welcome feature in a film of this genre.
All the performances are pretty solid, Shia LaBeouf (God he has some cruel parents!) delivers the goods again consistently, as he has done in pretty much all of his recent film work. There will be no Oscars for best actor going anywhere near Eagle Eye, but everybody from Rosario Dawson to Billy Bob Thornton gives a good show.
Is it worth mentioning the brilliant action scenes in films like this anymore? I'm beginning to run out of adjectives to describe CGI and chase scenes in films like this. It's very rare that movies with such a high budget skimp on such a basic thing now as the special effects. The camera shots, computer graphics and pyrotechnics all make for an exhilarating thrill ride, and this film can boast some of the more epic chase scenes I've seen in a while. Some suspension of disbelief is required for a few of the action sequences, but so long as they are mildly possible and look damn cool then they're OK by me.
In summation I will say that this film overall is a pretty gripping watch, and if you're anything like me you'll remain engrossed for most of the duration. However there is something about this film that does not quite sit right with me. It may be the personal comparisons I drew with the main villain or something else I can't quite extrapolate upon further. Although technically very good, when I left the cinema, me nor any of my friends were raving about Eagle Eye as at least one of us usually is when exiting the cinema. It was given a uniform "meh" from all six of us which was bloody strange. Worth seeing, a good action flick and a good story but lacks any real sparkle.
