LaBoeuf!? (Eagle Eye (DVD))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Eagle Eye (DVD)
Date:	03/05/09 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Decent action, fine performances...

Disadvantages: Hokey plot and lack of originality...

Note: this review was written for my review website, ShaunMunro.co.uk, thanks!

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How D.J. Caruso's Eagle Eye was able, or even keen to elude the "Summer blockbuster" window is anyone's guess, for it is as untowardly showy as any work to hit our screens this Summer. Moreover, in keeping with the unfortunate tradition of many of those films, Eagle Eye is, for all of its visual effects and overblown set pieces, a narratively stodgy action thriller.

The second that protagonist Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) appears on the screen, so do the clichés - his character is down on his luck, and we are very hastily asked to feel sorry for him at a stage in the film where it is impossible to know anything substantial about him as a person, and thus feel any empathy to his numerous troubles. Needless to say, the bathetic attempt at character development does not resonate at all.

Subtlety is not expected in a film like this, and fortunately, it works to the film's strengths - it doesn't take too long before Shaw is thrown into a wild situation in which he is framed for conspiring to commit a terrorist act, and is hauled in by the FBI. To stir the pot further, Shaw receives a warning phone call mere seconds before he is apprehended from a strangely prescient woman who ultimately saves Shaw from several big scrapes throughout the film. Thus, one must award Eagle Eye some points for intrigue - plenty is layered on, but regrettably, without much satisfying exposition at all.

For such a flimsily constructed film, Eagle Eye sports an impressive cast, both in regard to star power and acting chops. LaBeouf makes a surprisingly convincing action hero, given his youthful appearance, although this is perhaps to the foil of the chemistry between himself and romantic interest Michelle Monaghan, who plays a single mother caught between the gunfire and explosions. Meanwhile, Billy Bob Thornton makes an ever-welcome appearance as a delightfully clichéd FBI agent, and Rosario Dawson and Michael Chiklis provide adequate supporting turns.

The cast are, however, forced to contend with a script that is impossibly convoluted, frequently resembling The Matrix, yet setting it in a world that is so clearly intend to reflect our own. Moreover, the success of the narrative relies on so much coincidence and artifice that it creates a profound distancing effect toward the viewer.

This is all the more a shame considering D.J. Caruso's solid action direction, the invariable highlight of the film. Caruso has a talent for crafting intense and kinetic action scenes - it is just a shame that his talents aren't lent to something more substantial.

Unfortunately, not even Caruso's deft directorial hand can salvage a film that is fatally imbued with a laundry list of contrivances, waltzing into unintentional amusement by the half-way mark, namely as a man is spontaneously combusted by a fleet of strategically placed and implemented power cables.

From here, things only get worse - Monaghan and LaBeouf's characters become certifiable badasses in the blink of an eye, and by this stage, believing Looney Tunes is a markedly more reasonable expectation than the helplessly, shamelessly ridiculous plot of Eagle Eye.

Not entirely empty-headed, Eagle Eye raises the same concerns of privacy and "big brother" that better films have, although adds little to this debate. At least in examining the passive danger of social networking sites, however, it is better suited to our time than films of decades past.

Once the third act begins, any morsel of gritty realism is well and truly expunged by a stultifying chase between a plane and a car that takes place inside a tunnel, as well as some elements borrowed from science-fiction fare that don't do this purported political thriller many favours.

Eagle Eye is not a terrible film, simply a deeply flawed one, replete with shameless liftings from the likes of The Matrix and Enemy of the State. Not only content to be derivative, Caruso's film also buckles under a narrative that does not play by its own rules - it establishes a realistic locale in which people have debt, family members die, and people are mourned, and then usurps this with barely a believable moment beyond the film's first act. The action crowd may find some visceral delight in the ridiculous action scenes (my favourite of which involves a plane blowing a big rig to smithereens), yet these scenes can be said to undercut and suffocate the film's very real indictment of the powers that be and our individual lack of privacy. The film's screenplay has a real voice, but you'd be hard-pressed to hear it over all of the explosions and contorting metal.

Nevertheless, Caruso has not necessarily done himself a huge disservice - there is plenty of unintentional comedy to derive from Eagle Eye, and it is as well-directed and well-performed a piece of schlocky entertainment as you are likely to find.

Summary: A solid enough but rather disposable thriller