Eagle Eye

Eagle Eye is a fast-paced high-tech thriller, but it fails to bring anything distinctive to the table. The only thing that makes it attractive is Shia LaBeouf’s participation and the “Executive Producer Steven Spielberg” label. Tony Scott, active in the same genre, has his own directing style and his high-tech thrillers are original and audio-visually creative. D.J. Caruso produces only routine works that are neither great nor terrible. And for me, that is not enough for a two-hour action movie without a deeper look into psychology of the characters. (21.10.2008)

Spielberg is enjoying the production aspects and he’s letting decent directorial craftsmen under his patronage demonstrate their talents. Caruso's film is nothing more than a feature-length popcorn flick with no higher ambitions. It tightly clutches several genres, deftly referencing its more famous colleagues, and yet the is honestly entertaining for two hours. There are no dead spots and the pacing is so frantic that it kills even the leaky logic, and the actors so excellent that even the stiff dialogue can be forgotten. I’m willing to accept the angry criticism around the volatile camera and frantic editing - except for the car chases, where the feasts of destruction don't quite stand out - otherwise, it’s damn good! It’s a fine fairy tale, and after watching it I will fall asleep after a long time with a cynical feeling that such toys will one day bury the entire "civilized" world. :) (21.12.2008)

A cold Hollywood calculation “for one week" without any other ambitions than earning money fast and being forgotten even faster? Unarguably. On the other hand, it could have made good viewing. Yes, Caruso evidently likes Hitch, probably saw Space Odyssey and just loves movies like Enemy of the State. Which shows that he has taste, but says nothing about his talents. The beginning isn’t at all bad, but Caruso’s sprint runs out of breath half way through already. And during the true American finish, Eagle Eye commits harakiri at a moment when the end isn’t yet in sight. Shia is excellent as always, even though he was playing exactly the same role for about the seventh time over. But there are a few moments where I gets going (in the first half), so for a very forgettable, almost solid routine movie it’s just enough. By a very narrow hair’s breadth. (07.10.2008)

Risk of spoilers When a murderous computer appears in Buffy or The X-Files, fans (not without reason) classify such episodes as worse. When a fighter plane in Stealth starts thinking for itself, it becomes a flop that the public loves to mock. And when a giant central security computer in Eagle Eye starts causing trouble for the American government and tries to take the fate of the world into its own hands, it becomes a hit. A significant portion of the user community may consider the plot to be infinitely dull, but with pleasure they give the film a positive rating, saying that the ride was worth it. Unfortunately, it wasn't. I would much rather see more of Shia as a poker teacher or as the confidant of a lonely mother in a cargo box. I don't mean to say that he doesn't suit the gun, but in such moments we get too close to falling telegraph poles, makeshift lists of future victims, and sound vibrations reflecting off a mug. Caruso's first unfortunate stumble, which unfortunately marked his career with bad luck. (15.12.2008)

In the beginning there where two Shias... A badass action typhoon that would make even the most resilient veteran’s hair stand on end. It should have said at the beginning the not too distant future and not “next year" so that it wouldn’t seem so dumb in places, but so what. This movie isn’t trying to take an IQ test. It’s trying to blow up. This was probably the biggest badass in Shia’s whole career but he just played (me) a slothful layabout with no ambition. Michelle Monaghan was perfect for her role and Billy Bob Thornton sometimes reminded me of Clint Eastwood (aka Dirty Harry). D.J. Caruso did an excellent job and if I were a little younger I would give it 5. "Coffee machines have timers..." (07.11.2008)

At first glance, it is a very unusual and unconventional hi-tech thriller, but it gradually turns into a clumsy and ultimately even banal action movie, which has a brutally fast pace, technical gizmos better than in the once so expensive Die Hard 4, restless camera, and fantastically filmed explosions and car accidents. But beneath all this cool decoration, there is a single, even banally simple blow with an iron rod. At the end, you are certainly very entertained, unfortunately in a negative sense. The first half is thrilling, unpredictable, and skillfully shot. (28.12.2008)

A stupid film that tries to mask its stupidity with (stupid) action scenes and (even stupider) wannabe funny and cool dialogues. For some the fil has enough to satisfy, for other it does not. I belong to the latter, as you can tell by my rating. I can't deny that the film flew by quickly, but the vast majority of what happened in it was so terribly naive and stupid at the same time that I wanted to scream "Steven Spielberg, how could you!". If only it didn’t take itself so seriously! Eagle Eye was originally supposed to be some kind of hi-tech Hitchcock thing. But in the end it's just plain rubbish. Brr.__P.S. I miss science fiction among the genres. Stupid sci-fi. (03.09.2011)

Another action thriller after the movie "Déjà Vu". "Déjà Vu" actually appealed to me a bit more, maybe because Shia LaBeouf messed up with me a lot with the "Transformers" films, but mainly because the good idea is not executed that amazingly. D. J. Caruso is not exactly a top-notch filmmaker, but he at least shoots B movies that pretend to be A movies. "Eagle Eye" is exactly such a film. Familiar actor names and a fairly professional look, but in the end you still feel like you're just watching a good-looking B movie and nothing else. The idea is not bad. What if there is an entity, whether it's a person or not, that can monitor every step we take? The idea is not bad. What if someone not only watches us, but also has the power to influence what we do? What if there is someone who will play God? "Eagle Eye" tries to show us how dependent we are on technology and how unaware we are of it. Our lives are public thanks to Facebook; we don't mind posting on our own profile that we're going on vacation. It's as if we're giving burglars the keys to our apartment. "Home Alone" wouldn't be such a funny movie anymore. I once saw the film "Más de mil cámaras velan por tu seguridad", which had a very similar plot, only it wasn't about some great technological breakthrough, but simply about people. "Más de mil cámaras velan por tu seguridad" is not a brilliant film, it's a pretty bad horror movie, but as I said, it had a big effect on me at the time. I was about seventeen, if I'm not mistaken. "Eagle Eye" is an interesting film, but it still comes down to the fact that the two main characters are trying to escape from someone. The "Big Brother" element is good, but I still think it's not used perfectly. If Caruso didn't insist so much on ending his films well, he would immediately deserve at least a 10% better rating. This way, it's just a nice idea that wasn't fully realized, which disappointed me a lot in the end. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/11/deja-vu-fred-claus-oko-dravce-penelope.html (02.03.2013)