Review - Eagle Eye

Two strangers are brought together by mysterious phone calls that informs the individuals that they have become activated, forcing them to carry out elaborate tasks that can risk both of their lives including the lives of others. The identity of the mastermind caller remains a mystery, but it is clear that she has a overwhelming control of the technology throughout the world, utilizing it to dictate every aspect of the tasks the two strangers are forced to complete.


D.J. Caruso, in his second directorial effort with Shia LaBeouf in the lead, brings us an extravagant and action-packed adventure, that is high in energy and imagination but lacking in originality and believability. The film does not slow down from beginning to end and can be considered a bit of a sensory overload, but overall is a fun journey as long as the viewer get's past the implausible storyline.

Eagle Eye is based on a original story by Steven Spielberg, however the film borrows heavily from the action/scifi genre, in which you are sure to recognize a few. While some may complain at these bites or nods, depending on how you look at them, I throughly enjoyed them. A majority of semblances could quickly take the viewer out of the film, but instead, added to my overall enjoyment of the feature. One disappointment came with the reveal of the mysterious caller. It is pretty anti-climatic and should be easily realized by any viewer or scifi fan far before the film discloses the true identity.

Eagle Eye is overloaded with in your face action that can distract or confuse the viewer, but it instead added a level of intensity to the movie that kept me committed to the films development. The films is also plagued with highly improbable action and technological control that is carried out by the mysterious caller, who seems to have anything and everything technical at her disposal. Some of these scenes are entertaining but are more so laugh inducing and can quickly take the viewer out of the overly elaborate plot.

Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan are both very believable in the character development. The two have strong performances that are intriguing enough to allow viewers to become fully engaged in their characters. LaBeouf, once again delivers a impressive performance in a role that has him playing twins. Monaghan, who I usually have a hard time watching, was very convincing as the mother who would do anything to protect her son. I think that the fast paced action in Eagle Eye help to narrow down her speaking time, which in turn made her character more likable. Furthermore, she wasn't a typical idiotic female, who spends more time crying and screaming then getting anything done. The film allows Monaghan to be a strong female who pushes to complete her tasks just as much as Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf). It was refreshing to see a strong female in an action film, which more times than not, has nothing more than a bumbling female along for the ride.

In conclusion, Eagle Eye is not an action to be taken very seriously, but more so taken with a grain of salt. Some of the plot points are extremely outlandish and highly unbelievable that they can be down right laughable, but the overall development and execution of the film are strong enough that the film pays off all the way through. The film is alot of fun and comes a mile a minute, never slowing down in the slighest. This too works in the favor of the far-fetched plot. If the film gave the viewer too much thinking time, the viewer would have easily broken down the plot and quickly lost focus on its absurd details.