Eagle Eye

Introduction

US intelligence services have made a partial surveillance id on a mysterious Arab who could well be one of the top terrorist leaders in the Middle East. Despite not being 100% sure of the identification, the President orders the hit as this leader only surfaces once in a blue moon. They get it wrong.

Meanwhile back in the US, loner and self-proclaimed outcast Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) is mourning the traffic accident death of his genius twin brother Ethan who worked in some capacity for the Air Force. Jerry has cut himself off from his family, drifting between countries and jobs, and refused to his father's idea of conformity by dropping out of Stanford University. Jerry has refused all offers of monetary help from his father in order to pursue his own life, to his father's chagrin, but this leaves Jerry struggling to pay his bills and live.



Returning to his run down rented apartment after the funeral, Jerry finds $750k in his bank account and a mass of top grade military hardware and explosives components in his front room. A mysterious phone call from a woman warns him that the FBI will arrive at his apartment within the next 30 seconds if he doesn't obey her instructions and flee. Unable to comprehend what is happening, Jerry fails to react and is captured by a load of FBI agents in full Spec ops gear who crash through his window rather than just knocking on the door. This brings Jerry into the world of law enforcement and FBI agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton) and Air Force investigator Zoe Perez (Rosario Dawson), both of whom believe that Jerry is a terrorist.

Jerry's capture leads to a young woman, Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan), receiving a phone call whilst out on the town with her mates. Rachel had earlier said goodbye to her son who was off to Washington DC to play his trumpet for the President at the State of the Union address. The same mysterious woman now threatens the life of Holloman's son Sam unless she does as she is told. This initially is to drive a Porsche Cayenne, which isn't such a hard life you might think, but is actually as getaway driver for Jerry after same said mysterious woman engineers a spectacular and improbable escape from secure custody for the Transformers star.



Thrown together with no idea of why they've been seemingly chosen at random, Jerry and Rachel must evade capture whilst also following tight deadlines and instructions from the voice on the end of the phone, with Morgan and Perez in close pursuit…

Extras

A few extras including a gag reel that is actually funny (with a great mocked up scene between Billy Bob Thornton and Rosario Dawson). All the extras are short and relatively unmemorable, although there are more of the same on the Blu-Ray version these are also short so not sure why they couldn't fit on the DVD version…

Overall

This film is a series of rather improbable and spectacular coincidences that make up the semblance of a plot, all based around the prevailing security mood in the post 9/11 world. Think Enemy of the State and then bring it bang up to date with many more spectacular stunts and big explosions. And then add in a rogue computer. It's pure tosh. But do you know what? Despite being tosh, it's thoroughly enjoyable and a great big budget-type no-brains blockbuster.

You can't take the thing seriously at all but it's a great ride nonetheless. Part of this is due to the cast, with the central quartet of LaBeouf, Monaghan, Thornton and Dawson being rather superb in their respective roles. It also helps to have a powerhouse like Michael Chiklis in a supporting role.



The effects are rather good, even if the ability of a rogue computer (a rather snazzy one at that with liquid oxygen tanks and shiny golden globes rather than your 70's type mainframe with spooling tape drives…) to take control of everything it needs from traffic lights to junk yard cranes is stretching it a bit too far in the credibility stakes. This computer is able to see and hear everything, and also eject F-14 pilots from their fighters when it doesn't agree with their objectives. It also has no qualms at using anyone or killing anyone in order to fulfill its self-proclaimed mission. And a rather grandiose one at that.

If you want a film that is accurate(ish), watch a documentary or some indie toe-gazing piece. If you like the big brash blockbusters a la Michael Bay, which also finds Spielberg serving here as Exec Producer, then this will almost certainly be right up your alley.

Very enjoyable. Recommended.