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Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) was just your regular, run-of-the-mill slacker until the day of his twin brother’s funeral. That afternoon, Jerry returns to his run-down apartment in Chicago to find it filled with boxes and boxes of weapons and explosives. Then he gets a call on his cell phone from a mysterious woman, telling him that he’s been “activated.” The FBI is on the way—and he’s about to be accused of terrorism.
After his arrest, he gets another call. The same woman directs his escape and leads him to Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan).
Rachel is a single mom who just sent her young son off to Washington, D.C., to play an important concert. While she’s enjoying a night out with her friends, she gets a call from the same mysterious woman, threatening her son’s life if she doesn’t do what the caller says.
Jerry and Rachel have no idea who the woman is—or what she wants. But when they see the things she’s capable of doing, they have no choice but follow her instructions. It’s their only hope of making it out alive.
There’s nothing especially brilliant about Eagle Eye—nor is there anything especially original about it. In fact, it’s pretty much just a conglomeration of all kinds of other movies—so much so that, after the screening was over, my fellow critics and I made a game of it, listing the movies that Eagle Eye ripped off in one way or another. Movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Game, Enemy of the State, and even The Matrix. So when it comes to originality, Eagle Eye gets a pretty low score.
It also gets a low score for believability. The movie supposedly takes place just four months from now—in January of 2009—in a world where the government watches everything. There are cameras everywhere, and the government even listens in on regular conversations using the microphone on people’s cell phones. And the fact that it takes itself (and its blatant message) very, very seriously just makes it all the more hokey. The story will leave plenty of questions in your mind—and plenty of doubts, too. That is, unless you’re paranoid. Or delusional. Or a firm believer in conspiracy theories. In that case, it’ll just make you even more paranoid.
If, however, you’re able to suspend your disbelief to sit back and take it all in, Eagle Eye does score high in one category: thrills. The car chases and explosions and multi-car pile-ups are pretty spectacular—and they’re more than enough to keep any adrenaline junkie entertained. So while the details of this intriguing (though unoriginal) plot don’t always work, that doesn’t have to be a problem. Because just when you start contemplating the plot holes, something will blow up, and you’ll be too distracted (and entertained) to worry about it making sense.
So although Eagle Eye definitely isn’t a brilliant movie, the non-stop action makes it a decent Saturday night popcorn flick. If you don’t really care about the finer details of a plot—but you love a good car chase—this one’s for you.
