Eagle Eye

RATING: B

I'm actually at a bit of a loss on where to start with this one. I know what has to be discussed eventually about this movie; but what comes first (and what was actually marketed) is a bit more difficult to find a starting point to go on. With little option, we'll just throw caution to the wind: this is an artificial intelligence action-thriller that is disguised for the first half or so as *just* an action thriller--with maybe some kind of conspiracy involved. And it was marketed as the latter as well--which wasn't entirely a bad idea, but it's rather difficult to review this film without bringing up the second half at all. 

This film starts out with one Jerry Shaw having some weird things happen to him--he gets a crap-ton of money deposited into his account, he comes home to find all kinds of military hardware and ammonium nitrate in his apartment. And then he gets a phone call from a mysterious woman who leads him to escape the authorities and meet up with a woman named Rachel who's also been contacted by this mysterious caller. This strange caller has plans for them--and threatens their lives and family (well, the latter in Rachel's case anyway) if they don't comply. Oh yeah, and this caller seems to have control over basically everything electronic. 

Having mentioned that this is a film involving artificial intelligence, it's not difficult to guess where the film goes from there. Ultimately, what we get is a pretty doggone exciting film that almost never lets up in pace and that also has a point to make--not just about A.I., but about mass surveillance in general. The action scenes are pretty fun--we get two car chase scenes, the latter of which includes a drone (and ends in spectacular fashion), as well as an airport package processing scene which starts out a little silly but ends pretty well too.

While the dialogue/script isn't always the best, the casting often helps make up for it. Shia LeBeouf does quite well here, while Michelle Monaghan is serviceable. Billy Bob Thornton also stands out, delivering his often silly lines properly (although I get the feeling that they intended to cast someone else first). Julianne Moore alternates pretty well between being appropriately monotone and genuinely creepy. Rosario Dawson and Anthony Mackie (Falcon from the Marvel Universe) are also familiar faces. 

This movie isn't without its issues. The film makes a big deal about how the A.I. can control a ton of things--from traffic cams to traffic lights to cell phones. And that all is quite believable. But I do have a hard time believing that it could make a city train come to a screeching halt and go backwards, or somehow take control of power lines in the middle of nowhere and use them to electrocute a man to death. The point is, sometimes this A.I. does things that are straight up impossible. And there are just some other little things that don't make much sense either. Also, there is a key plot point that involves the use of a sonic detonator to set off a bomb that I wasn't really a fan of (not to mention they never tell us where the actual bomb that is to be detonated even is). 

Despite some issues, Eagle Eye is a movie that was actually kind of ahead of its time (though not by much). While it isn't entirely original (the A.I. sometimes brings HAL 9000 to mind), it does have the benefit of being released in a time period where other issues like surveillance can come up (as opposed to years before). Oddly enough, this movie was not well liked when it came out--it was regarded as ridiculous and unbelievable. Maybe the plot felt a little more far-off then, but I'm not so certain that people would take that same attitude five to ten years later. If you're a fan of this particular subgenre, it's definitely worth a spin.