North Texas Daily: Scene (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 92, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, September 26, 2008 Page: 4 of 8
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Friday 09.26.2008
¿ MovieSCENE
Eagle Eye' lacks logic in unoriginal plot
Latest LaBeouf
flick leaves
plot holes
By Kip Mooney
Junior Staff Writer
If you want to enjoy "Eagle Eye,"
you'll have to obey just like the
characters do.
But unlike their increasingly
complicated tasks, you have only
one rule: check your mind at the
door.
If you follow this instruction,
you'll experience one of the most
entertaining movies of the year. If
you disobey, you'll try to fill in the
gaping plot holes, and your head
will explode.
But on to the movie. The
trailer sets up all you need to
know going into it: Jerry (Shia
LaBeouf) discovers military-grade
weaponry in his apartment, is
arrested and gets phone calls from
a mysterious caller, who gives him
instructions to escape.
And we're on the run from there,
as Jerry meets Rachel (Michelle
Monaghan), a single mom who's
also receiving calls, and they
team up and complete increas-
ingly dangerous tasks.
But while the movie certainly
keeps you on the edge of your seat,
it tries really hard to give your
brain a workout too. Unfortunately,
"Eagle Eye" constantly defies any
logic.
You have to use one part of your
brain to pay attention but shut off
the other to ignore the point that
most of this makes no sense.
Yet the movie succeeds on its
quick pace — even at two hours,
it never drags — and its engaging
performances. LaBeouf in partic-
ular makes the audience feel
his desperation, not only in the
opening scenes where he slaves
away at the Copy Cabana, but also
★★★☆☆
during his tasks. This is a man
frantic to discover his place in an
increasingly terrifying situation.
Billy Bob Thornton is also
terrific as the FBI agent hot on
Jerry's trail, a no-nonsense old-
school guy who prefers reading
files on paper to his phone and
m
£
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slings obscenities (PG-13-level of
course) like a pro.
Unfortunately, Rosario Dawson,
one of Hollywood's most versa-
tile actresses, is wasted here as
the U.S. Air Force liaison inves-
tigating the case with Thornton.
Also wasted is Michael Chiklis.
So frightening on FX's cop drama
"The Shield," here he's the gentlest
Secretary of Defense ever put on
screen.
While his character is key to
the movie, he ends up becoming
the least important, a waste of
space.
Another problem with "Eagle
Eye" is that, for a movie from an
original idea from Steven Spielberg,
it cribs almost entirely from better
movies, including "Enemy of the
State," "The Fugitive" and even
"2001: A Space Odyssey."
churles SCHWAB
The movie also reminds us a
lot of Mark Wahlberg's "Shooter,"
which tried to force great action
sequences with heavy-handed
political commentary.
"Eagle Eye" does much of
the same, with a similar lack of
subtlety.
It seems as if each setpiece is
followed by a message in big block
letters: DOMESTIC SPYING IS
BAD.
But with its action-flick shell,
this maybe the first post-Sept. 11
movie to discuss terrorism and be
a box office success.
And we say more power to it.
When a movie's this enter-
taining and not a complete sensory
assault á la Michael Bay, it's easy
to overlook a movie that requires
an incredible suspension of disbe-
lief.
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North Texas Daily: Scene (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 92, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, September 26, 2008, newspaper, September 26, 2008; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth145611/m1/4/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.