"Eagle Eye" - spoiler movie review

A friend had mentioned the film to me after seeing a trailer, and he had said it sounded intriguing, so I was looking forward to seeing the trailer myself. Once I'd seen it, I was definitely interested, but there was such a push on the radio ad, which I kept hearing over and over and over again, that I really just got sick of it. Luckily, it didn't turn me off the film itself.

"Eagle Eye" was awe.some. As you'd probably expect, there was lots of really great action and a ton of things that blow up in the most spectacular ways. The humongous list of stunt players in the end credits is not surprising in the least. But I liked that it also had a decent story, and I tell you, part way through the movie, you think about never answering a phone again.

I liked that it takes some time before it's revealed what's going on, that the one calling the shots is actually a computer - Aria, who has decided that the leadership is dangerous and wrong and has therefore set in motion Project Guillotine - which basically means taking out the entire chain of command and starting over. Aria has access to every manner of electronic information and uses threats and coercion to get everyone she needs to do what she wants them to do. Aria is almost a combination of Skynet from "The Terminator" and HAL from "2001". And it took me a while to notice, but there were many nods to "2001", like when they were pulling out Aria's memory banks to try to slow her down - I half expected her to start singing "Bicycle Built For Two". It also took me a while to realize what the lady was calling the guy in those scenes - she kept yelling "Bowman". How perfect was that? "Dave, what are you doing?"

Shia LaBeouf was just terrific in this film, playing a role and a cameo since his twin brother is only in it for a few minutes. I'm really liking everything I've seen him in so far, so I'm looking forward to seeing more.

I'm not always a fan of his, but I have to say that Billy Bob Thornton was just spectacular in this film. He was no-nonsense but not one-dimensional. He's definitely another good reason to watch this film.

Michael Chiklis does a really good job in the film as well. Aria seems to like him too, since he's designated as being the next president.

But who's the voice of Aria? There's no credit for it. It doesn't sound completely computer-generated. It actually sounds a lot like Joan Allen to me.


I thought it was funny that when Jerry was talking to his co-worker about taking his girlfriend out to a nice place with tablecloths and things, he specifically mentions Olive Garden and Red Lobster. Now, I like both places, but I don't consider them fancy places, and I know Olive Garden doesn't have tablecloths. I can't remember about Red Lobster.

It was totally evil that the piece that was going to be used to blow the fatal frequency was being put in Sam's sax while the crystal that was going to explode with that frequency was going to be worn by his mom Rachel.

We noticed a credit to "Cloverfield" at the end, and the husband thinks that's what was playing on the TV screens when Jerry and Rachel went into that room in Circuit City. Do people really still go to Circuit City?

How crazy was it when the airplane went inside the tunnel to try to kill Jerry? That was crazy, but not nearly as crazy when Billy Bob Thorton's character drove his truck so that it put this huge piece of metal into the path of the plane, creating a humongous fireball when it hit.

I knew that the only way for Jerry to stop them was to fire his gun, and I was sad when he was shot. I get that they apparently needed a happy ending, but I thought it would have been more fitting if Jerry had been fatally wounded, and this ne'er-do-well is actually reponsible for saving the entire chain of command with his completely self-less act.

I liked the premise of the film, because in this day and age, there are so many places where we're connected electronically. Most are usually separated, but what if there was an entity that had access to all of our electronic footprints? That's a lot of information to have on people.


One thing I was really happy about was that as much as I got sick of the trailer, I loved that the trailer actually gave away very little about the actual story of the movie. You know that the two of them are being directed to do what they're told, but you're not told that it involves a ton of other people, and you have no clue about Aria or about the plot to kill the entire chain of command. Nowadays, trailers give away entirely too much information and plot points, so I really appreciated that.