Russo Rating: 7/10
Though the story is derivative, the spectacle is far grander.
Lots of fans like to get angry at the studios for remaking their favorite titles. Filmmaker D.J. Caruso, with the financial backing of Hollywood titan, Steven Spielberg, has attempted to get past the negative image the remake machine attracts by cleverly guising his recent films with flashy, technological updates, younger actors, but most importantly new titles.
Audiences let it slide with their last effort, the incredibly well done Disturbia, which harkened back a little too much to Hitchcock’s Rear Window. Going to the well again, Eagle Eye drums up imagery, themes and entire plot points from better films like North by Northwest and War Games. While only a moderate success, Eagle Eye is hardly the travesty some film critics and audiences have made it out to be, and the epic thriller should find longevity with its DVD and BluRay release.
Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) has been falsely targeted by the government as a traitor for aiding and assisting in terrorist activities. Now, with the help of another seemingly unconnected target, Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan), the duo must follow the orders of an all seeing and all knowing computer, or risk a lifetime of imprisonment.
Though the story is derivative, the spectacle is far grander. Caruso handles himself well directing big action pieces, dramatic car chases and a thrilling game of cat and mouse. While the overall arcs are familiar, many of the beats within the story, with Jerry and Rachel constantly outsmarting and fooling the FBI, are quite engaging and clever.
To continue the trend, even the packaging for Eagle Eye is reminiscent of another man on the run thriller, The Fugitive. Luckily though, everything inside this snazzy release is pretty much golden. For BluRay viewers, the special features come your way in HD and they include two making of featurettes, one highlighting the difficulties of shooting in Washington D.C., and several other mini-docs, one asking the question of whether or not your cell phone is spying on you. Deleted Scenes and a gag reel round out the better then average disc.
I feared mediocrity but was pleasantly surprised. As action films go, it had a decent enough plot, pretty good action (that is, increasingly less plausible, but building on itself so one does not mind it too much), and the acting was OK.
The premise was interesting, and one wonders if we should have been cheering for the computer as an entity who seemed to care about The Constitution more than most of the people in the film.
Hah. I thought the same thing about the computer. On one of the test screening cards an audience member actually cited that the computer had a justified motive. It certainly brings up an interesting debate about how strictly one can read into the language of our country’s founding documents!