Director:D.J. Caruso
Writers (WGA):John Glenn (screenplay) & Travis Wright (screenplay)
Release Date:15 October 2008 (Indonesia)
Genre:Action | Crime | Mystery | Romance | Thriller
Writers (WGA):John Glenn (screenplay) & Travis Wright (screenplay)
Release Date:15 October 2008 (Indonesia)
Genre:Action | Crime | Mystery | Romance | Thriller
Cast :
Shia LaBeouf ... Jerry Shaw
Michelle Monaghan... Rachel Holloman
Rosario Dawson... Zoe Perez
Michael Chiklis... Defense Secretary Callister
Anthony Mackie... Major William Bowman
Ethan Embry... Agent Toby Grant
Billy Bob Thornton... Agent Thomas Morgan
Review :
The movie casts the always engaging Shia LaBeouf as Jerry Shaw, a hapless nobody caught up in the cogs of domestic intrigue. He has just returned home to New York after his brother’s funeral, and stops at an ATM where he discovers his normally empty bank account now contains $750,000. As anyone would, he withdraws as much as he can fit in his pockets and heads home, wondering what the hell is going on. He arrives at his dinky apartment to find it too is no longer empty. It is now full, with all the chemicals and weaponry one might need to commit a major act of terrorism. His phone rings. A mysterious voice on the other end warns him he has only seconds to leave his apartment before the FBI arrives to arrest him. Jerry ignores the warning and in shock, remains rooted to the floor until moments later when the FBI’s foot soldiers come crashing through his window and drag him off to jail.
Jerry doesn’t stay in jail long, and soon the mysterious voice on the phone is directing him on an unknown mission of unknown intent. The caller controls not only his cell connection, but seemingly every other piece of technology on the planet. The voice pairs him up with a mother named Rachel, who is forced to cooperate lest the voice murder her son. That Jerry and Rachel are being used and manipulated is never in question; what is, is whether they’re being used for good or for evil. The movie holds together as long as that question remains hanging heavily in mid-air, even after we find out who it is that’s controlling them, via a potentially ludicrous but surprisingly well handled plot twist. It’s only in the third act that Eagle Eye starts to fall apart, when the battle lines are drawn and we’re told just exactly who we’re supposed to root for. The little anarchist inside me had more fun rooting for the other guy.
Though there is a passing attempt in the movie’s script to pose questions about the state of American politics, Eagle Eye is first and foremost a big, dumb, action thriller. It belongs smack dab in the middle of summer, why they’ve dropped it in September is something of a puzzler. Caruso jam packs his movie with big car crashes and things blowing up. He does a perfect imitation of a Michael Bay action flick, complete with his annoying, usually pointless, shaky cam technique which more often than not, spoils the effect of something really cool blowing up. Better filmmakers like Paul Greengrass know how to use violent camera motion to suck the audience into the action, make them feel as if they’re a part of what’s going on. Caruso lacks either the instincts or the subtlety to pull that off, and simply shakes things around for no other reason than to disorient his audience. It’s a minor annoyance really, most of the movie, what you can see of it, looks fantastic. More importantly, the action is well paced and, especially for the first two-thirds of the movie, thrilling. Cheap thrills is the real reason to be here, and Eagle Eye delivers.
Jerry doesn’t stay in jail long, and soon the mysterious voice on the phone is directing him on an unknown mission of unknown intent. The caller controls not only his cell connection, but seemingly every other piece of technology on the planet. The voice pairs him up with a mother named Rachel, who is forced to cooperate lest the voice murder her son. That Jerry and Rachel are being used and manipulated is never in question; what is, is whether they’re being used for good or for evil. The movie holds together as long as that question remains hanging heavily in mid-air, even after we find out who it is that’s controlling them, via a potentially ludicrous but surprisingly well handled plot twist. It’s only in the third act that Eagle Eye starts to fall apart, when the battle lines are drawn and we’re told just exactly who we’re supposed to root for. The little anarchist inside me had more fun rooting for the other guy.
Though there is a passing attempt in the movie’s script to pose questions about the state of American politics, Eagle Eye is first and foremost a big, dumb, action thriller. It belongs smack dab in the middle of summer, why they’ve dropped it in September is something of a puzzler. Caruso jam packs his movie with big car crashes and things blowing up. He does a perfect imitation of a Michael Bay action flick, complete with his annoying, usually pointless, shaky cam technique which more often than not, spoils the effect of something really cool blowing up. Better filmmakers like Paul Greengrass know how to use violent camera motion to suck the audience into the action, make them feel as if they’re a part of what’s going on. Caruso lacks either the instincts or the subtlety to pull that off, and simply shakes things around for no other reason than to disorient his audience. It’s a minor annoyance really, most of the movie, what you can see of it, looks fantastic. More importantly, the action is well paced and, especially for the first two-thirds of the movie, thrilling. Cheap thrills is the real reason to be here, and Eagle Eye delivers.
