I was recently able to catch the movie Eagle eye which left me quite frankly very confused. Never have I been so involved in a movie that proceeds at break neck speed and at the same time have a nagging feeling that the story line is too .... whats the word.... um .... ’ out there ’ to be made a movie of.
The story was written by Dan McDermott inspired by what Steven Spielberg was writing of the subject around 12 years ago . Steven was supposed to be its director but stepped down when he got too busy with the indiana jones venture. But he remained executive producer of the movie and had 3 scriptwriters - John Gleen , Travis Wright and Hillary Sietz polish up the story.
The movie stars transformers and disturbia star Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaggan as the lead pair with Billy Bob Thorton and Rosario Dawson as FBI team leader and government agents. Jerry ( LaBeouf ) is a man without a mission. He works in a copier store and is a stanford university dropout. He gets a call from home informing him is high power twin brother Ethan is dead in a car crash. After Jerry return back from the funeral he finds that his bank account is filled with around $ 750, 000 and his rented home stacked with weapons and explosives. He then gets a call from the woman who informs him the FBI will arrest him in 30 seconds and that he must escape now. A too shaken to react Jerry is arrested by the FBi just as the woman warned him and he is being interrogated as a potential terrorist. Just when he begins to lose hope the same mystery woman calls again who plans his escape.
He is ordered to partner up with Rachel , a single mother who is forced to help out by the same mystery woman caller who threatens to kill her only son who is on his way to Washington DC to play a band recital for the president. The caller showcases her exceptional ability to control anything electrical such as cellphones, automated cranes, traffic lights etc etc. which leads to the pair escaping from the police and agents . The caller turn out to be a top secret super computer who is trying to do its job.... to rectify an error in this case the President who makes an error judgement that leads to innocent civilians losing lives in the middle east which becomes a political warfare.
Will the supercomputer ARIA succed in its mission?? Can Jerry and rachel escape from her cluthces alive ?? And will anyone believe their story if they do escape?? all this forms rest of the movie.
So basically how electronic iems help in keeping track of you every second of the day forms the theory of the story. But do appreciate the fact that this movie was written 12 years ago when we didnt have ipods and this much dependency to cell phones and laptops etc. Spielberg apparently said like with his movie jaws where people feared to enter the water for a long while after watching the movie, here the people should be scared enough to switch off the cell phones after watching eagle eye !! A line he would have regretted even uttering after the movie’s release i’m sure.
The movie recieved fairly mixed to negative ratings and reviews once released even though it did get to the no 1 spot in the US and canada and grossed around $129 million worldwide and is still running.
My personal viewpoint is you are going to enjoy this movie if you dont have conversations with your sensibility while watching it. The pace of the movie is amazing and the cast did a pretty good job. I have been as meagre as possible in explaining the plot for I dont want to ruin your viewing pleasure but you can pretty much guess it once it gets going. So do let me know your thoughts if you guys do watch............. cheers