Eagle Eye (***)

Directed By: DJ Caruso (Disturbia)
Starring: Shia Labeouf, Billy-Bob Thornton, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson
Seen: October 31st 2008

*** Out of ****

Jerry Shaw (Labeouf) is a down-on-his-luck out-of-cash guy who one day walks up to an ATM and finds his balance to be $750,000. When he gets to his apartment, it is stacked to the roof with explosives and weapons and ammunition, and he gets a call (female voice, supplied by an uncredited Julianne Moore) warning him to leave the apartment before the police arrive. He doesn’t, gets arrested, and in the interrogation room the same voice calls him on the police phone, now helping him escape.

Rachel Holloman (Monaghan) is a young mom out on the town with her friends, and when she answers her phone the previously mentioned voice tells her if she wants to see her son again, she’ll cooperate. Just as soon as she gets in the car that’s provided for her, Jerry Shaw jumps into the car with her. From here the two are sent on increasingly insane and high stake “missions”, and you just can’t figure out why these civilians were picked for this.

All along the way Agent Thomas Morgan (Thornton) and Zoe Perez (Dawson) chase them, but slowly they start thinking that they might not be the guilty ones they were initially made out to be… The chase scenes and action sets also keep on escalating as the film progresses, almost to a ridiculous degree.

Eagle Eye is a lot of fun if, for two hours, you are willing to simply let go of rational thought. While the action continues and the story unfolds, that is. Once you reach the end it all makes sense, and the film really delivers on the mindless entertainment. There are however, those who would feel cheated by the plot, and that is fully understandable, since Eagle Eye does ask for a high level of suspension of disbelief for almost the full running time, with a very thin mask once things are resolved. I for one really enjoyed the film, and found it truly entertaining.