Eagle Eye
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and for language.
reviewed by Christopher Lyon
Ever worry a little bit when you're typing personal information on the Internet to buy something or update your Facebook page? Ever wonder who might see that info and if they could ever use it against you? The makers of "Eagle Eye" are hoping to build on that worry to get you to buy into their paranoid thriller about the global network of info and technology falling into the wrong hands.
The Story
Shortly after his twin brother dies, Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) finds $750,000 in his bank account and a cache of military weapons in his run-down apartment. Then his phone rings and a woman tells him to run. Instead, Jerry is caught and held for questioning as a suspected terrorist by federal Agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thorton).
After mysteriously using faxes, phone calls, and digital billboards to manipulate Jerry's escape, the woman on the phone tells him exactly how and where to run. He tries to resist, but she can find him everywhere, sending messages through digital traffic signs and strangers' cell phones. She eventually directs him to work with Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan), another bewildered victim of the woman's seemingly God-like manipulation of traffic lights, McDonald's video signs, and networked construction equipment.
As the reluctant duo eludes the Agent Morgan's team and Air Force investigator Zoe Perez (Rosario Dawson), the woman's instructions lead them on a cross-country mission. Whenever they challenge her, she threatens to kill Rachel's young son traveling with a school group to play at a band concert in Washington, D.C.
Eventually, the pair learns the truth about the woman's identity and must decide whether to sacrifice themselves to stand up to her -- or continue to follow her plan to its conclusion.
The Verdict
What we thought of the film on its own terms
What Works: For a while, "Eagle Eye" plays with a fascinating idea. What if the global network of information (including remote access to every financial transaction, transportation network, and military/satelite system) could somehow fall under the control of one organization? If you could control everything with enough speed and precision, what couldn't you do? It gets you wondering a little bit about where we're headed technologically.
Shia LaBeouf is always watchable and makes a good down-on-his-luck everyman. The rest of the cast is decent, if a little generic. The action is fast-paced and features lots of satisfyingly loud and crunchy car crashes and explosions and near-miss chase sequences.
What Doesn't Work: What starts out as a kind-of-believeable concept about our over-reliance on computer networks to support our daily lives becomes less and less believable with each new incredible feat by the "woman on the phone." When we finally learn who she is and what she's up to, it's just too far out to make any sense at all.
The problem is that the film promises to be a modern-day, high-tech, this-could-really-happen-someday thriller. Instead, it's an alternate universe science-fiction thriller. If I'd known that going in, it would have been easier to accept the far-out sequence of events that unfolds in the second half of the movie. As it is, I just kept saying, "Oh, come on."
Something else that would have helped is if the writers had built in more of sense of humor. Aside from a kind of half-joke, LaBeouf and co. play the whole thing completely straight. Some comic relief would have been a welcome way of letting us know the story was about the ride and not about the logic.
Still, it's an action romp that's a half-notch better than most of the films released in last few months, especially if you try not to think too hard about whether any of it makes any sense.
Content: The action violence body count in "Eagle Eye" -- which includes lots of innocent bystanders -- is enormous, though we never see any of the bodies or much blood. Language includes one scene with crude sexual talk and some swearing (including the use of Jesus' and God's names).
Worldview
How the film's take on life compares to a biblical perspective
By the time the credits roll, the movie's warnings about the privacy and security we're sacrificing to the global corporate/military computer conglomerate seem more silly than profound. It starts out suggesting, "They know everything about you and control everything you do." But it winds up saying, "Oh, what a big silly idea."
But there's another worldview question deeper in the mix. It has to do with how many people you're wiling to see hurt in order to save yourself or those you care about. Jerry and Rachel continue to obey the voice on the phone to save themselves from getting framed as terrorists and -- more convincingly -- to save Rachel's son.
The problem is that their cooperation continues to get police officers and others killed or wounded. They must eventually decide where to draw the line and say, "I'm not willing to be used to harm others even if it costs my own life or the lives of my loved ones."
That spirit of sacrifice for the good of others -- even those you don't know -- is common in films. It's how we define heroes, after all. And it's even fairly common in real-life crises, where men and women jump in to save accident, fire, and drowning victims. God's Word urges believer in Jesus to make it the norm in every area of our lives, to imitate Jesus by looking for ways to sacrifice ourselves for the good of others even if nobody will ever know but us. (See Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37.)
So be sure to think about that when the digital terrorists call your cell and ask you to help them take over the world because they saw your MySpace page. It could happen.
Questions:
- Was "Eagle Eye" what you expected from the previews?
- Are you a fan of the Shia? Where does this movie rank in his filmography (which includes "Transformers" and "Suburbia")?
- Did you guess who the woman on the phone was before she was revealed? How soon did you have a pretty good idea of what was coming?
- Does it bother you when a story makes less and less sense as it goes on -- or are you willing to completely suspend your disbelief for the sake of enjoying the film?
- Do you think those "activated" by the woman on the phone should have stopped cooperating early on when it became clear that she was willing to hurt people to accomplish her mission? Why or why not?
- Do you see it as your calling in life to sacrifice yourself for the good of others? Why or why not?
