Eagle Eye Review

Thanks for checking out our Eagle Eye review. Eagle Eye was a project I first heard about because it was the film that Rosario Dawson turned down the lead role in Zack and Miri Make A Porno for, and because I loved her so much in the last Kevin Smith film she appeared in (Clerks 2), I was instantly bitter against Eagle Eye and I had unfair negative feelings about the project ever since.

However, as we’ve gotten closer and closer to the Eagle Eye release date I found myself getting won over a little bit… not a lot, but a little. Enough that by the time I was heading to the movie theater to see it, I was actually mildly looking forward to it. Did it deserve to get off my bitterness list? As it turns out… yeah.

THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis for Eagle Eye looks something like this: “Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) returns home after the mysterious death of his successful twin brother. He and a single mother, Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan), find out that they have been framed as terrorists, and they are threatened into becoming members of a cell tasked to assassinate a politician.” Not a bad premise for a post-summer action flick.

THE GOOD
There is a lot of backlash going on around Shia LaBeouf and for the life of me I can’t understand why. All Shia LaBeouf has done is pretty much nail each role he’s been in about as well as they could be done. Yes Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a let down, but his character was a bad character to start with and he did as much as could be done to salvage it. In Eagle Eye, he once again pulls off the whole “average guy who gets caught up in an action situation”, and pulls it off well. He never suddenly feels like an action hero which many other actors in these rolls often fall into and he made the whole situation believable to me.

The action sequences in Eagle Eye were surprisingly KICK ASS. I expected a quasi political/techno thriller, but some of the action chases, be they on foot or in cars were truly heart pounding and executed with a lot of visual excitement. The car chases in particular were really well done with a few elements that I’ve never seen used in a car chase before.

The whole plot device of this mysterious voice on the phone (heard in all the trailers) screwing with and at the same time “helping” Shia through the movie was cool and pretty damn interesting to… up to a point, but I’ll go into that more later.

THE BAD
Some of the little devices and escapes they used in the film were a bit too much and crossed the boarder between “creative” and “ridiculous”, between “exciting” and “eye rolling”. The most unfortunate part about that is that a few of these over the top moments would happen in the middle of an otherwise cool and well done action sequence that would almost ruin it for me and pull me out of the moment.

Easily the worst part of the movie for me was the big “reveal” that happens about half way through the movie giving us the identity of the “bad guy”. It was beyond stupid and added a big squirt of sour to the flavor of the res of the movie. I almost wish that they hadn’t revealed the villain until the very end of the movie. Yes it would have ruined the end… but at least I could have blissfully gone through the rest of the flick imagining a GOOD ending until the big disappointment hit me before the credits rolled.

OVERALL
In the end, Eagle Eye turned out to be a respectable post-summer action flick with a solid performance by LaBeouf to carry it through, despite some far too over the top devices scattered throughout the film and a horribly lame bad guy. Still, had me on the edge of my seat a few times and in general I was entertained. Overall I give Eagle Eye a 7 out of 10.

Source: http://www.themovieblog.com/2008/09/eagle-eye-review

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The Express (2008)

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Changeling (2008)

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Sex Drive (2008)

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Body of Lies (2008)

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Revolutionary Road (2008)

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Yes Man (2008)

Jim Carrey stars as Carl Allen, a man who signs up for a self-help program based on one simple principle: say yes to everything...and anything. At first, unleashing the power of “yes” transforms Carl’s life in amazing and unexpected ways, but he soon discovers that opening up his life to endless possibilities can have its drawbacks.

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Seven Pounds (2008)

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

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The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

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Crossing Over (2008)

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Four Christmases (2008)

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Australia (2008)

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Quantum of Solace aka "Bond 22" (2008)

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Role Models (2008)

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Babylon A.D.

Opens August 29, 2008
PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action, language and some sexuality)

Babylon A.D. | Synopsis
It is the not-too-distant future. Thousands of satellites scan, observe and monitor our every move. Much of the planet is a war zone; the rest, a collection of wretched way stations, teeming megalopolises, and vast wastelands punctuated by areas left radioactive from nuclear meltdowns.

It is a world made for hardened warriors, one of whom, a mercenary known only as Toorop (Vin Diesel), lives by a simple survivor's code: kill... or be killed. His latest assignment has him smuggling a young woman named Aurora from a convent in Kazakhstan to New York City.

Toorop, his new young charge Aurora (Melanie Thierry) and Aurora's guardian Sister Rebeka (Michelle Yeoh) embark on a 6,000 mile journey that takes them from Eastern Europe, through a refugee camp in "New Russia," across the Bering Straight in a pilfered submarine, then through the frozen tundra of Alaska and Canada, and finally to New York. Facing obstacles at every turn, Toorop, the killer for hire, is tested like never before, in ways he could never have imagined - as he comes to understand that he is the custodian of the only hope for the future of mankind.

For the first time in his life, Toorop has to make a choice: to make a difference or walk away and save himself.

Too bad it came on the day he died.

Cast: Vin Diesel, Gérard Depardieu, Michelle Yeoh, Charlotte Rampling, Mark Strong, Radek Bruna, Melanie Thierry, Lambert Wilson
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
Genres: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller

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