Thanks for checking out our Eagle Eye review. Eagle Eye was a project I first heard about because it was the film that Rosario Dawson turned down the lead role in Zack and Miri Make A Porno for, and because I loved her so much in the last Kevin Smith film she appeared in (Clerks 2), I was instantly bitter against Eagle Eye and I had unfair negative feelings about the project ever since.
However, as we’ve gotten closer and closer to the Eagle Eye release date I found myself getting won over a little bit… not a lot, but a little. Enough that by the time I was heading to the movie theater to see it, I was actually mildly looking forward to it. Did it deserve to get off my bitterness list? As it turns out… yeah.
THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis for Eagle Eye looks something like this: “Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) returns home after the mysterious death of his successful twin brother. He and a single mother, Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan), find out that they have been framed as terrorists, and they are threatened into becoming members of a cell tasked to assassinate a politician.” Not a bad premise for a post-summer action flick.
THE GOOD
There is a lot of backlash going on around Shia LaBeouf and for the life of me I can’t understand why. All Shia LaBeouf has done is pretty much nail each role he’s been in about as well as they could be done. Yes Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a let down, but his character was a bad character to start with and he did as much as could be done to salvage it. In Eagle Eye, he once again pulls off the whole “average guy who gets caught up in an action situation”, and pulls it off well. He never suddenly feels like an action hero which many other actors in these rolls often fall into and he made the whole situation believable to me.
The action sequences in Eagle Eye were surprisingly KICK ASS. I expected a quasi political/techno thriller, but some of the action chases, be they on foot or in cars were truly heart pounding and executed with a lot of visual excitement. The car chases in particular were really well done with a few elements that I’ve never seen used in a car chase before.
The whole plot device of this mysterious voice on the phone (heard in all the trailers) screwing with and at the same time “helping” Shia through the movie was cool and pretty damn interesting to… up to a point, but I’ll go into that more later.
THE BAD
Some of the little devices and escapes they used in the film were a bit too much and crossed the boarder between “creative” and “ridiculous”, between “exciting” and “eye rolling”. The most unfortunate part about that is that a few of these over the top moments would happen in the middle of an otherwise cool and well done action sequence that would almost ruin it for me and pull me out of the moment.
Easily the worst part of the movie for me was the big “reveal” that happens about half way through the movie giving us the identity of the “bad guy”. It was beyond stupid and added a big squirt of sour to the flavor of the res of the movie. I almost wish that they hadn’t revealed the villain until the very end of the movie. Yes it would have ruined the end… but at least I could have blissfully gone through the rest of the flick imagining a GOOD ending until the big disappointment hit me before the credits rolled.
OVERALL
In the end, Eagle Eye turned out to be a respectable post-summer action flick with a solid performance by LaBeouf to carry it through, despite some far too over the top devices scattered throughout the film and a horribly lame bad guy. Still, had me on the edge of my seat a few times and in general I was entertained. Overall I give Eagle Eye a 7 out of 10.
im about to watch this and i think it will turn out good
This movie was actually Good i saw it just yesterday and if you don’t pay attention to the WHOLE movie you will miss out on a lot of stuff. It’s not really clear unless you pay attention closely so thats sort of a bad thing but other than that it was straight.
Honestly, i didn’t like Aria too much, look, this movie was FREAKIN AWESOME. but the twist with Aria was sort of dissapointing
I loved this movie! There are some people asking why the AI killed so many people when her beef was the president giving the order to kill the village. The answer is that she’s not pissed that they bombed the village, she’s pissed that terrorists from all over the world are calling in threats and attacking America. Her main goal is to save Americans, she doesn’t care about anyone else. And, if only a few Americans have to die to ensure that no one makes that stupid mistake again, so be it.
it was a great movie. the only negative was that they spoiled who/what Aria was like 1 hour into the movie but i see why they needed to do that.
and the ending, where it says “hello Kyle” was cool, but i hate endings like that. it was really awesome though! my favorite part was when Jerry jumped out of the car and engine flew into the jet and it exploded, freakin cool!
For me it was great, but I’m just a little bit pist with the ending.
i liked it. it’s a good movie. as for the guy asking why the computer went crazy, it’s her objective as a fully aware AI; made me actually think if she was right at some point. LOL Some philosophical debates here though.
overall it’s a good movie. those who are saying it’s not that original, it doesnt matter. it’s the “ride” of the movie we watch for.
cheers
Crap
Sorry, Aaron, but in a movie, when something everyone want to happen doesn’t happen, they deserve to know it in advance. Besides, dont you think the vast majority of movieblog reades already saw the movie? After all this post was a review.
And Kristina, I guess they (the filmmakers) left the dude alive because they felt guilty of not having killed everyone at the hall. :D
I saw this tonight and was pleasantly surprised. I liked it save for that fucking cop-out ending. Dude got shot in the back THREE TIMES and only ends up with his arm in a fucking sling? I was holding my breath, PRAYING that they would leave him dead but nope, they pussied out at the last minute. Pussies.
raptor edge, was “or at least would have triggered the explosion anyway.” a spoiler?
Well, Cage, the award was actually to the dead brother. And I guess the award is only for dead or wounded heroes…
I not only think the end was very soft. I think they didn’t push it because “they” didn’t let them do it. The computer had all the power she wanted or needed (and the only logic possible), in a more real plot she never would have let them get very far… or at least would have triggered the explosion anyway.
I hate when they get too patriotic. But in this case they give us the opposite message: by being patriotic in the end (making it soft), they were unpatriotic according to logic.
Some how the president in the movie reminded me some actual president i don”t wanna mention here because they might be analyzing blog post… :D
Does anyone know why the father was given an award at the end and Rachel was not? I didn’t get that part…
And to the person who asked if this reminded me of ‘iRobot’ the answer is yes– with a combination of ‘Enemy of the State.’
I thought the movie was so so. I agree with LaBeouf doing a great job in the movie and that some of the action was great. However, I found some of the action to lack the thrills I hoped for. Maybe I couldn’t cope with the fact that the movie was basically 2001: Space Oddyssey (on the HAL note anyway) mixed with Live Free or Die Hard. The ending bugged me too. Given how it all went, I suppose I hoped for something more depressing.
@ PADTHAI
Exactly. Normally I could disregard a plot hole if the movie flows logically enough to do so. But the computer is the central point of the plot, and there isn’t any logic behind its actions. It went haywire because of innocent civilians dying (not many…at least it appeared to be a small village), but how many people died as a result of its own actions?
Had that crystal gone off, the entire Congress would’ve been lost.
Why was Shia’s character even set-up at the beginning? Wouldn’t it have been a hell of a lot easier (if the crystal plot was kept) to complete the task without the entire FBI chasing him?
In the movie, the computer has shown that it can basically control all electrical devices, it can control cranes, street lights, jets, cell phones etc.. That means if it wanted to kill the president and cabinet, since it has unlimited power and means to control the world.
“The plan wasn’t about killing the president, it was about killing the president and the entire cabinet at the exact same time so that the succession chain would be broken.”
The movie mentioned that the crystal had the power to destroy a whole football field. It would kill so many people, that having the jet destroy the white house would probably kill less.
I mean.. couldn’t the computer get the power cords and all the electrical devices at the white house go crazy and kill the whole cabinet.
OMG!!!!!!!
sending as F22 to shoot a missle to the white house would kill more innocent people then necessary! the computer doesnt want to kill that many innocent people hence the only reason its killing the president is because she thought they were retarded for KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE.
sure the diamond thing was going to kill some average joes but not too many…just enough to get to the president….but she wasnt going to cram a nuke up bush’s ass
the diamond thing was perfect because it would have klilled justt enough people at the right time to make the thing from fantastic four and the shield president because hes the only one that didnt want to green light the air stricke on the innocent people on the funeral. he DID green light it…but he didtn want to…and im guessing eagle eye said “oh shit i want him as president..”
and the action sequences were fine i enjoyed it…especially the part when shia goes in the white house!
@ Larry
I understand that. So use the plane to kill all of them, then. If this thing can control a utility power line, there has to be a simpler way then the exploding crystals.
For that matter, why even set up Shia’s character with all the explosives? Wouldn’t it have been easier for him to do without the plan without being traced by the FBI?
SPOILER
@ Ryan – The plan wasn’t about killing the president, it was about killing the president and the entire cabinet at the exact same time so that the succession chain would be broken.
@ Stupid – When you say the director never get another gig, you’re already wrong. DJ Carusso has a ton of projects already in the works
i was open minded and excited to go a see this movie -but it was just stupid. i find road runner cartoons more believable and less ridiculous and less absurd. i could explain it but i just think you should get as screwed as I did-so i want you to go and see it. i know one thing, if i needed money to produce a flick -i would find the loosers that forked out to create this pos.
it was from start to finish a mis-allocation of valuable resources. the reputations of the actors may be perminatly scared. the director will never get another gig in this business again. and the producers are out their cold cash with no chance of getting back.
The pacing was great, I’ll give you that.
But someone PLEASE explain why this computer would create such a convoluted plan to kill the president when it could’ve just had that plane do it?
RYAN
how abotu this one:
it fucking ruled
@ Padthai
I completely agree. I apologize if my previous post came across as an absolute. Have you seen it? It may also been because of the IMAX screen that made the chase sequences harder to follow, but I’d like to hear another opinion on that aspect of the film.
Guess i’m saying that debating over who’s right and wrong in film a total waste of time. It’s like saying “oh i liked it” but then i other guy says ” i disagree”.. and there you have it.
Ryan,
Film is totally subjective. There’s no right or wrong opinions, it’s useless to argue over who is right or wrong. John might think the action scenes are great, but others can disagree. It’s just an opinion.
I saw this last night in IMAX, and here are a few things I need to get out.
I really wanted to like this movie, but the plots holes in it were ridiculous. Shia’s character did not need to be setup. The computer has the capability to kill people very easily, but creates an absurdly elaborate plan to kill off 12 people (6 of whom did not need to be killed).
I disagree about the action scenes as well. John, I know you’ve said countless times that you’re tiring of “shaky cam”; I found this movie to be one of the worst offenders. I couldn’t tell what was happening in any of the car chases!
Thanks for the review. I still may see it. Also, great HD Eagle Eye trailer at FlickOut.com
http://flickout.com/eagle-eye/
i wanted it to end with like guy pierce picking up the phone and eagle eye saying something
lmao
that would have sequel written all over it!
john
i loveed this movie..call me tasteless but it was really good. i was SHOCKED at how good it ended up…..i DID like the bad guy (did it remind you of vicky from i robot??lol)
so youre review isnt just good…i would give it an EIGHT!!
good review though
although i disagree on a few things:
the twin thing wasnt lame. cmon. seriosuly it was good. when he played as the other twin it was inmensly convincing
the escape scenes werent liek ridiculously bad….not worse then the shit trasporter did which was like “that would never happen”
i dont know what you mean by close shacky camera but w.e.
i didnt notice a thing
this is in my opinion shias best role by date. his best PERFORMANCE not best movie. this is his secound best transformers being 1st
but acting wise..this is his best. i loved his acting in this movie it was spectacular IN MY OPINION
i used to hate lebauf posting shit like ENOUGH LEBOUF but i have mad respect for him now he showed he can ACT in this movie
but great review john
(i think that the previews were weak to such a good movie…see? previews are msileading…)
Do you guys think the movie would be a ton better if the White House blew up at the end? It would end the whole thing on a bang.
I actually knew going into the movie who the “bad guy” was.. cmon has no body seen space odesey? but when they showed her I laughed at the Hal 9000 resemblence. overall I thought it was a good movie. I don’t think they need to clarify why the villian did what she did, I think it was explained super simple. they should make a sequel and probally could since she had a “back up” remotely through a satelitte. 8 out of 10
I’ve grown accustomed to seeing Shia since his Disney days (yup, I said it) and it took a while to see him all grown up for roles in the big screen. I saw Eagle Eye and I actually enjoyed the whole movie from movie to end. Sure, some elements are a big off the top but aren’t all action flicks like that?! I thought the villain playing as a super computer for the US Defense was pretty clever…I wouldn’t have expected it to be written that way. Cast members played their part well too. I’d say 4/5 stars for me. Good thing I chose this movie over Babylon AD…Diesel doesn’t strike me as someone to watch anyways.
You obviously have a crush on Shia. I don’t care for him as an actor cause he seems to play the same character in every film he does. To me it gets boring after a while. Not a bad actor but getting bored of the same thing.
John, have you seen Babylon A.D.?
im watching it tonight, so thank you for the reveiw my friend
although you gave it a 6….i seriously hope it passes lakeview terrace in rotten tomatoes..i HATE it when bad movies are on top of that list!
and it had like 10 mil!
From the trailers alone I knew (was certain) that the “bad guy” was a form of “SkyNet”. Not for once did I believe a woman was talking to them… when they did the reveal I was like: “Tell me something I don’t know!”
i’m shocked, Nixon.
I thought everybody was going to like this movie.
It plays to the Movieblog audience.
There were nothing new about the movie !
just a chase and how amazing secret society technology was… ummm I told my friend as a joke
” I watch CNN everyday, don’t think I care too much ”
we both laughed,
Me and my Friend actually hoped this movie was gonna be about secret society, but not even close !
I saw the movie and I think it sucks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I saw it, and it freaking rocks.
The first 15 minutes are slow, but after that it’s like a rocket ship.
I would’ve liked to see the White House blow up in the end though, and kill the whole cast and end the movie with a huge giant bang. Just because it would show that the machine even losing would win the fight. And, the way the machine was killed in the end was a not interesting at all. Basically sticking a stick at it, and it was that simple. There were no lasers or defense mechanisms by the computer.
They need to make a sequel to this, I want to see how they can top this movie.
hey , just so you know if you get the dvd watch deleted scenes , and when the womans son plays rockband it shows the tv saying , hello sam or whatever , listen to my instructions!
Well I’m glad it sounds watchable because I’m the taking the kiddo tomorrow. Personally I’d wait for DVD, but she’s a big fan of Shia.
so, basically…it sucked
I didn’t mind the reveal halfway through, I think most people started to put it together anyway. I just didn’t like the logic. Essential Gear Guide did a nice job breaking that down:
http://www.essentialgearguide.com/1/1064/eagle-eye-opens-today/
I think it could have been a lot better if they had worked in some better reasoning as to why the computer system went crazy. As is, the story line really contradicted itself.
really jay? wow. It was some of the worst television I have ever seen. The acting the writing- – everything,n
This site used to have a lot more stuff on it every day. Is it just me or is there less now?
Love the site really! I just don want ta wait til mid afteroon before there is something new to read. You guys used to have stuff up in the morning most of the time.
transfromers************* sry
Can’t w8 2 watch it :) Shia LaBeouf rules xD wonder why he hasnt any participation in more films besides transporters 2
@Alfie
hey if you watched the last cople of uncut pod cast you would have seen that he said that he loved heros and i would have to agree with john it was much better then season 2
looks like we might not be seeing zack and miri for a while.
MGM look to have dumped their upcoming Weinstein slate so weinstein have to start looking else where for distribution.
expect a delay…..
oh and john. Please tell me you thought heroes was as awful as I did. I don;t know why I bothered but I completely done with it now. I wash my hands of it. So sad to see such a great show turn so jaw droppingly bad so fast.
The rip off from the fly was the last straw for me. I don’t mind homage but they just don’t have an original idea in their heads.
Bummer.
OMG great setup bad followthrough…
I love the giant Jet fighter in the trailer! it looks so cool, even better than the Megatron Jetfighter form.