Review of Eagle Eye (2008) by Dawdlingpoet — 25 Nov 2021

This movie is thoroughly watchable, its just rather farcical, in a similar way to the movie Source Code - I think thats a fair summary in one sentence but I'll elaborate to make this a full review. There's alot of action in this movie, plenty of chase scenes, including car chases and chases on foot, explosions and the like - quite a few scenes had me glued to the TV screen, so its quite engrossing. Given the story and what the characters are co-erced/forced to do to prolong their lives, its really quite tense and the whole time your trying to guess what its all leading up to and what the ultimate outcome will be.

I don't remember for sure but I seemed to remember hearing of mediocre to very critical reviews of this particular movie, which led me to feel sceptical towards it before I'd seen it - its a shame as I did quite enjoy it, I was surprised by how entertaing I found it, although I can understand critics who may have complained about the basic plot being rather unoriginal and possibly even unhelpful in this present climate (in relation to terrorism) I suppose. I reckon if you like shows like 24 for the action, then you'd likely enjoy this though. The main characters are decent enough, perhaps their perhaps slightly cheesy in a way, the main character Jerry Shaw being a particularly dull, average guy who lives, or lived, in his now late brothers shadow (boo hoo) and Rachel, the other main character, who has to 'soldier on' or her dear young son will be killed - an under achiever and a mother effectively being held to ransom with her young son as bait - wow, there's originality for you(!). No, the story is hardly breaking new ground but that certainly isnt to say that this is a very poor, boring movie - I found it to be quite engrossing for the durating it was on. I felt that this movie is very, of course, very much of a 'Big Brother', voyeuristic style - this can't be recommended to people who suffer from extreme paranoia, thats for sure!. The movie features some fairly big names in the cast, including Shia LaBeouf (star of Disturbia and the Transformers movies) and Michelle Monaghan as Jerry and Rachel - they both provide pretty average performances, I wouldn't say either particularly stood as being exceptional in any way, as far as I can remember. Other well known cast members include Billy Bob Thornton (aka Angelina vile guy - get it? as in the blood vile thing they did - very strange...anyway(!)) as agent Thomas Morgan - the agent chasing Jerry who believes him to be a terrorist. I thought he gave quite a good performance, though perhaps not outstanding but his character was alright. Other names perhaps worth a mention include Ethan Embry, Rosario Dawson and Michael Chiklis (best known for playing the lead role in the hard hitting TV drama The Shield).

As the movie heads towards its climax, it becomes more gripping and I couldn't help but feel for Rachel with the decisions that she was forced to make. The special effects are heightened with some extra large explosions to keep us glued, although unfortunately 'the cheese' also comes back into play with one or two scenes of a highly unoriginal nature - the old 'im not going to make it but you must do this - go on son or it'll be for nothing' type dialogue and such as that.

Looking again for negative aspects, I suppose if you think logically about the premise of the movie and the events that take place, the real chance that events would unfold as they do is, of course, extremely minimal but moreso in terms of the actual explosions etc., oh just by chance Jerry and Rachel are able to escape relatively unscathed from many close calls - hmmm(!). This is also a very 'American' movie, with the underlying message to do with national security but the ending being quite patriotic and suchlike, which may not necessarily appeal to everyone I suppose. Yes the movie uses a somewhat tired cat and mouse chase type plot idea, its not really unique and its rather cheesy in parts but its still quite watchable and entertaining if just for the fast paced action. This is neither an utterly awful or a very good or excellent movie, it would be another of the movies I'd give a 3.5 star rating for if such a rating were possible - as it is, I think I'll give it a 4 star rating as its quite watchable and certainly entertaining as a basic action/thriller movie.

If your looking for a movie to pass the time, just a basic action movie with lots of explosions and chase scenes, something quite tense and fast paced, then this is a good option but the story just isn't anything new or particularly interesting and there is that 'cheese factor' which will put people off and doesn't do it any real favours. Hopefully you can decide for yourself based on what I've said, whether this would be worth you paying to see.