Eagle Eye

Eagle Eye

Rated PG-13

Running time: 1 hr 58 mins

Cast:

Shia LaBeouf
Michelle Monaghan
Rosario Dawson
Billy Bob Thornton

Critical Consensus:

**1/2 out of *****
(25% Fresh Rating!)

Matt's Take:

C+

Mikey @ The Movies Official Rating:

*** out of *****

The premise:

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.

MY REVIEW

I love how we still live in movie world where people, namely critics, can put down a movie based soley off how implausible it is. Shut up already. Just stop going to movies all together then, it's a battle you will never win. Because guess what? People actually LOVE implausible movies. Especially big budget action flicks like this. Because your typical average movie goer doesn't over analyze things in movies that don't need to be analyzed. You know why an average movie goer goes to a movie, especially one like this? To be entertained! To enjoy themselves. To watch a lot of fast paced, really awesome action scenes with tons of explosions and gunfire! Oh gee, this movie seems to have all of that. So my advice to you critics out there who hated this movie, get your heads out of your self righteous butts, and learn how to enjoy a movie that was soley meant to entertain. Not every ACTION (!!!) movie you see has to be identical to real life you snobby critics! I could go on about how moronic some critics can be, but I don't have time for that, and this is about Eagle Eye. But this is why I don't dare call myself a "critic". I just review a movie, usually in a way normal people want to see a review. I just give my personal thoughts on the film without using big words (sorry critics, no one wants to read that crap) or throwing in my useless knowledge of films and actors (again, the average movie goer DOESN'T care how smart you are in movie terms!).

Eagle Eye is everything I expected it to be. Loud, fast, non-stop and fun. This movie was incredibly entertaining and even had some very tense moments. The story definitely takes a back seat to the explosivness, which is typically the case in a movie like this. This movie wasn't about incredible storytelling or smart dialogue. It was about taking an idea of the government using technology to monitor our lives, to the very very extreme. Could this movie have worked better with less action and more attention towards a good screenplay? Of course, and it probably would have been a much more sophisticated film. But this is what we got, and it wasn't all THAT bad. Like I said, the action was the primary focus here, and dang did it work!

Now I won't even go into the implausibilites of this movie. Because this entire movie, almost every single thing that happens, is UNBELIEVABLY impossible to occur in real life. But when you watch the previews, and assuming you are intelligent enough, you can see that. But that is what makes a movie fun sometimes. Why does every movie have to be plausible for people to enjoy it? Why does every movie have to be Oscar caliber for it to be good? This is why I love the fact that I watch every movie with new eyes. I give every movie a chance (even if I don't really want to see it), because you just never know. I'm rambling again. But yeah, this movie has rediculous car chase scenes, people shooting guns everywhere, a neat little chase scene in an airplane luggage conveyor belt thing, it has it all. It's just damn good fun!

Now here's my issue. While the action was tense and exciting, it did tend to be a little to much. Not the implausibilty of them, just the length of them. Some car chase scenes just kind of dragged on and after a while got a tad boring actually. Then the last act of the film had so much going on, just a little to much action even for a big budget action flick. The camera weeved around so fast during these scenes it actually hurt my eyes. The screen just became a temporary blur fest of colors. I think they could have dummed down the action a bit, and still had a great thriller.

Now the story itself, I really couldn't explain it to you. Which wasn't a major factor for me. I mean I was expecting the story to be weak, and I didn't really care. I think for me, I at least want to comprehend the screenplay. And I had a hard time doing that. Because just when explanations were being thrown around, it just got loud and explosive again. We barely get any breaks from the action enough to understand what the heck is actually going on with these characters. Again, for me not a big deal.

The performances were good, but what you would expect in this kind of movie. Shia LaBeouf (Holes, Transformers) is a very talented young actor, there is no denying that. He probably is the best young actor working today. It's hard to say "young' becuase I believe he's my age. But you know he has a very long future ahead of him. He can really carry any movie, and have big success off of it. He has to be the youngest box office king ever. Michelle Monaghan (Gone Baby, Gone) was a suprise here too. I thought her performance in Gone Baby, Gone was a fluke when I saw her in Made of Honor earlier in the year. But she came back, and really did well here. Never could see her in a movie like this, but I love when actors suprise me. Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton (Sling Blade) was a nice addition to the cast. He's usually always pretty good, and this time is no different. Plus, he was funny!

Look, to sum it up, Eagle Eye is a fun escape from your personal lives. I just hope one day people can go to an action movie with open minds and turn off their critic brains for a movie. I mean really, just sit in your seat and have fun without analyzing a movie for once. Sheesh. But yeah, a lot of people will enjoy this movie. See it, I don't think most movie goers will be dissapointed. I really wasn't.

To view this film's theatrical trailer, click this link: Eagle Eye

*This is the 121st new film I've seen and reviewed this year.