Eagle Eye (2008)
I remember seeing the trailer for Eagle Eye non-stop last Summer, partly because I practically lived in the cinema last Summer and the fact that it had the shit advertised out of it. I remember thinking it looked alright, but the main problem I had was the name. It sounds like a cheesy Action Man villain or something (no G.I. Joe here, we're British). For the taut, action thriller it seemed to be selling itself as, the name just seemed to weigh it down like a ton of cheddar.
Following the death of his twin brother, Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) is framed as a terrorist. Arrested by the FBI, he is sprung by a female caller and coerced, along with a single mum (Michelle Monaghan), into going on a dangerous mission. The plot was basically that bit in The Matrix where Morpheus is guiding Neo through the office on the phone, stretched to feature length proportions. There's some techno-terrorism bullshit in there too, but that just washed over me like white noise. The two leads are fine, as well they should be, but even their acting abilities fail to cover the staples holding this film together
And that's what this film is, a mish-mash of other, more successful films. We have the aforementioned Matrix ripping, some Bourne style car chasing (although considering every damn film does this now, I suppose it can be excused) and even a bit of 2001: A Space Odyssey/ I, Robot (delete as applicable according to intelligence/age). Hell, there's even (arguably) a bit of the Final Destination films about it at one point. It just seemed like a waste of time to me. Why buy an album of great songs covered by an average singer when you can listen to the originals? Doesn't make any sense.
Conversely, the film does manage to keep you interested in what's going on throughout. I honestly wanted to find out who the person was on the phone and tried to work it out as Mr. TheBeef and Watchamatits tear-arsed around the place. I suppose this is a good indicator that the film isn't all bad as I was at least involved with the plot on some level.
Eagle Eye is a Frankenstein's monster of a film. It's big, loud creature made from other films' corpses. However, it is marginally better than the sum of its parts. It's worth checking out, but there are films out there worthier of your time and money.
I remember seeing the trailer for Eagle Eye non-stop last Summer, partly because I practically lived in the cinema last Summer and the fact that it had the shit advertised out of it. I remember thinking it looked alright, but the main problem I had was the name. It sounds like a cheesy Action Man villain or something (no G.I. Joe here, we're British). For the taut, action thriller it seemed to be selling itself as, the name just seemed to weigh it down like a ton of cheddar.
"Disobey, and you die."
Following the death of his twin brother, Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) is framed as a terrorist. Arrested by the FBI, he is sprung by a female caller and coerced, along with a single mum (Michelle Monaghan), into going on a dangerous mission. The plot was basically that bit in The Matrix where Morpheus is guiding Neo through the office on the phone, stretched to feature length proportions. There's some techno-terrorism bullshit in there too, but that just washed over me like white noise. The two leads are fine, as well they should be, but even their acting abilities fail to cover the staples holding this film together
And that's what this film is, a mish-mash of other, more successful films. We have the aforementioned Matrix ripping, some Bourne style car chasing (although considering every damn film does this now, I suppose it can be excused) and even a bit of 2001: A Space Odyssey/ I, Robot (delete as applicable according to intelligence/age). Hell, there's even (arguably) a bit of the Final Destination films about it at one point. It just seemed like a waste of time to me. Why buy an album of great songs covered by an average singer when you can listen to the originals? Doesn't make any sense.
Conversely, the film does manage to keep you interested in what's going on throughout. I honestly wanted to find out who the person was on the phone and tried to work it out as Mr. TheBeef and Watchamatits tear-arsed around the place. I suppose this is a good indicator that the film isn't all bad as I was at least involved with the plot on some level.
"She could probably derail a train, she could probably turn a train into a talking duck."
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