"Eagle Eye" movie reivew

Eagle Eye (PG-13) stars Shia LaBeouf as an everyman who finds himself thrown into a national security emergency after a mysterious voice seems to be tracking him through every piece of technology he encounters. Michele Monaghan costars and D.J. Caruso directs.

Ryan: Although not completely his fault, Eagle Eye is a swing and a miss for Shia LaBeouf. Granted it did finish at the top spot at the box-office and it does contain some entertaining moments. But make no mistake about it Eagle Eye is a ridiculous film. I know that it's the type of film where one has to suspend their disbelief to buy what's going on but the complete lunacy of the story is void of any grounded reality. About midway through the film I thought to myself, could this movie get any more ridiculous. Well it did. And that's unfortunate.

Andy: Eagle Eye ends up being a moderately entertaining thriller, due largely to the performance of the obnoxiously likeable Shia LaBeouf. I’m not sure what it is, exactly, about this guy that makes him so appealing. He somehow walks the tightrope between being a movie star and being an everyman, and he’s been utilized very well in his young career. Surprisingly, most of his movies (with the Indiana Jones movie being the possible exception) have failed to live up to his performance.

Ryan: By no means is this a negative career turner for LaBeouf, but he had a nice little streak going. He showed that he could aptly handle summer blockbusters (Transformers and Kingdom of Crystal Skulls) but more importantly he demonstrated in last year's thriller, Disturbia that he could carry a film. But in this particular vehicle, he's unable to rise above the material. Like I said before he can't be held completely accountable for the all the film's shortcomings but on the other hand he doesn't really do anything outstanding that might have salvaged the movie.


Andy: The concept of Eagle Eye is certainly intriguing enough. The film’s central message seems to be a warning about the combination of rapidly increasing technology combined with unfettered government power. However, the movie spends a lot more time setting up action sequences than it does setting up the ideas behind the movie. The result is a movie that is entertaining enough while you’re watching it, but easily forgotten afterwards.

Ryan: I've said this once but I'll say it again. Eagle Eye is a preposterous movie. For example the super computer in the movie is god-like in its ability to do just about anything with technology but when it comes to fulfilling it's programming it comes up with the most hair-brained plan imaginable. But Eagle Eye's absurdity is not just relegated to the film's story but also with its borrowing from other more superior movies. Whether it's 2001: A Space Odyssey or any number of Hitchcock movies, Eagle Eye is quite liberal with its cinematic influences.

Unfortunately it's solely the ideas and not the charm of those classics that gets translated in Eagle Eye. Final grade: D+

Andy: Clearly the plot is going to be a lot harder for some people to swallow than for others. It is far fetched, but it is also an action movie released in September. If this movie came out in the middle of the summer ridiculousness it wouldn’t seem as out of place. The movie is certainly not as good as the first couple of trailers implied it would be, but it is still a pretty welcome diversion. Final grade: B-.