SNMR 6.10: "Eagle Eye"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Eagle Eye" (2008, PG-13, 117 minutes) starring Shia LaBoeuf, Michelle Monaghan, Billy Bob Thornton, Rosario Dawson and Michael Chiklis. The film was directed by DJ Caruso.

PLOT SUMMARY: Two strangers are drawn together by a mysterious female voice who keeps calling with instructions. Failure to follow the instructions usually ends up with something really bad happening. Who is the voice and what does she want? Why were these two people chosen? Can they accomplish all the mysterious voice intends for them to do before it's too late?

MY OPINION: I liked this movie. It was fast paced and had plenty of action right from the beginning all the way through to the end. Excellent car chases and crash scenes help to make this an edge of your seat thrill ride. Because this movie is so fast paced, sometimes stuff that was happening didn't make sense and I found that I had to replay some scenes to understand what I was seeing.

The script is nothing you haven't seen before, taking pages from other sci-fi movies like "I, Robot", "The Terminator", "The Matrix" and even "Krrish". Director DJ Caruso does a decent job of holding it all together. Shia LaBoeuf is a talented young actor who will be around for a long time, but in this movie, he and Michelle Monaghan are just serviceable in their roles. This is the kind of film where the actors are almost secondary to the action itself so you could basically insert any other male and female actors with a modicum of talent and you'll wind up with a similar movie. Billy Bob Thornton gives his usual, steady, performance. I thought Michael Chiklis was an excellent casting choice.

Still, if you like action movies then this one shouldn't disappoint. Because of the pacing, I think this is a film that will get better with repeated viewings.

*** out of *****