See how this works for you. One day you’re pretty much a loser. You’re broke. You can’t pay your rent, and you’re stuck in a crappy job at Kinkos. Your brother has just died, serving in some unknown military operation. Life pretty much sucks. Just when you think it can’t get any worse….

Film 

Well, it did get worse for Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf). At first it appears that things might just be getting better. He goes to his ATM to deposit a check from his dad when he discovers that suddenly there’s $751,000 in his account. But when he gets home it all falls apart. His apartment is filled with deliveries of weapons and other items that appear to come from Terrorists R Us. His phone rings, and a mysterious female voice tells him that the FBI is coming and he has 15 seconds to scram out of there. Of course, Jerry uses all 15 of them asking questions and not getting answers. The FBI indeed does bust in, and before long Jerry is cuffed, stuffed, and in an interrogation room with Agent Morgan (Thornton). Of course, Jerry has no idea how that stuff got in his place. When Morgan leaves the room, another intrusion by the voice tells him to duck just as a crane crashes through the building, allowing him to escape. Meanwhile Rachel Holloman (Monaghan) has just sent her young son to Washington DC, where he has been invited to join a children’s band that will play for the President’s State Of The Union Address. Once the tyke is off, however, her phone rings, and guess who’s on the other end. It’s the female voice warning her that her son’s train will be derailed and he will be killed unless she does exactly what she’s told. Before long these two strangers are brought together. It can’t be a coincidence that the military is shipping a brand new explosive that looks like a diamond but is 80 times more powerful than C4. How do they ship it? It looks like Fed Ex, for when you positively absolutely have to blow crap up overnight. Jerry and Rachel are led through a whirlwind of instructions leading them to do something bad. Along the way they leave nothing but carnage in their wake. Perused by Morgan and Air Force investigator Perez (Dawson), the couple is led through a series of carefully timed events by a seemingly omnipotent voice.

Eagle Eye is really a fast paced adventure. You can’t think too hard, or you’ll find most of this pretty hard to believe. The hope of the filmmakers is to take advantage of your paranoia. In the wake of 9/11 coupled with remarkable strides in technology, there is an almost overwhelming feeling today that privacy no longer exists and that a corrupt government is using this technology and laws like the Patriot Act to subvert your freedoms. No doubt there are many believers in those pews, and that’s the target for Eagle Eye. Beyond the paranoid aspects of the film, it’s pretty much an amusement park ride the whole way. This film racks up an impressive number of car crashes and explosions. All of that would be just fine if the premise wasn’t so forced upon us and the filmmakers weren’t so sure they were serving some greater good. Just enjoy the adrenaline rush and leave the philosophy to other, more notable films. The stunt effects are where it’s all at here, and this film is loaded down with them. Michael Bay couldn’t have done any better.

The cast is mostly very good. Billy Bob Thornton plays the FBI agent in a far more “normalized” role for Thornton. He still chews up scenery, leaving sometimes partner Rosario Dawson with a hard time keeping up. I still don’t know what this Hollywood love affair with Shia LaBeouf is. I mean, I just don’t get it. He has one emotion, and I guess it carries him through. No doubt he’s been a part of some huge films, and even though his rebel personality has caused more than a few problems for those who work with him, he keeps showing up in big money pictures. Maybe the ladies think he’s hot or something. Neither he nor the usually better Michelle Monaghan do much more than react constantly in the film. A surprise appearance by Michael Chiklis as the Secretary Of Defense is maybe the best character, although underused here. It likely doesn’t matter who you get to play these characters, because they are all upstaged by the massive set pieces, manic pace, and extraordinary stunts that are the real spectacle on Eagle Eye.

Video 

Eagle Eye is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1. There’s no doubt that this is a very good 1080p presentation. You get it from a solid AVC/MPEG-4 codec at a significantly high bit rate. The image is about as crisp and clear as you could ask. Detail is pretty good, but frankly, the images are usually moving so fast there’s never a lot of time to truly appreciate them. The print is pristine with no noticeable defects. Black levels are surprisingly average. I didn’t get a lot of shadow detail or depth to them at all. Colors are a bit dark, so don’t expect any of them to pop off the screen. What I am most impressed with is the detailed texture the film has. When cars crash, there is a decided reality to the images that comes not only from this solid transfer but from the decision to use real cars instead of relying too much on CG enhancements. That means these cars have a realistic shine to them. When they collide, the debris has a texture of ripped glass and metal that sells the image just as much subconsciously as it does in sheer beauty.

Audio 

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track is a perfect match for this film. At times the score and explosions get absolutely jarring. By the time the film is over I’m tired from all of that running I didn’t do. The dialog is perfectly placed at all times. The uncompressed sound clocks in at a pretty good 3.5mbps or better throughout. There is incredible dynamic range as well. No matter how loud and shattering things get, they do not crumble into distortion or breakdown. The sound is as energetic as the picture.

Special Features 

All of the bonus features are in high definition,

• Deleted Scenes: There are four that are mostly extended versions of what is still in the picture.
• Asymmetrical Warfare – The Making Of Eagle Eye: We’re reminded too often about Spielberg’s 10 year old idea. There is also a lot of talk about this being an Indie film feel. Nothing can be further from the truth here. This is as big feeling as they get. It’s too bad Caruso doesn’t just understand what he has and how it actually works. Caruso is very softspoken, and it’s hard to imagine this sleep inducing voice directing such an action powered film. It was nice to learn about new developments in film stock. I’m glad to hear film is very much alive and well. The feature runs about 25 minutes.
• Eagle Eye On Location – Washington D.C.: The crew went to our nation’s capital to film many sequences. Michael Chiklis got a bang out of many of the locations. It’s a good 6 minute feature, but do they really need that amped up score going all of the time? It was starting to give me a headache.
• Is My Cell Phone Spying On Me: I’m one of the very few, the proud, who refuse to own a cell phone. Now, this isn’t why. And it’s not the cancer scares either. I’m just willing to admit I’m not important enough to be in 24/7 communication. When I drive, I like to…you know… actually drive. Actually this 9 minute piece doesn’t really talk about cell phones much at all. It’s a look at modern technology and the potential for abuse. LaBeouf thinks this Big Brother idea was Spielberg’s brainchild. I guess he hasn’t gotten to George Orwell yet. Where does he think the term Big Brother came from?
• Shall We Play A Game: This is a sit-down chat between director Caruso and John Badham who directed War Games, and was apparently Caruso’s mentor. They spend a lot of time complimenting each other; OK, only 9 minutes. It just seemed like a long time.
• Road Trip: The crew covers a lot of ground in 3 minutes. They shot all over the place. Since the characters were always on the move, so was the film crew.
• Gag Reel: A little long at 7 minutes

Trailer and Photo Gallery finish things up here.

Final Thoughts 

Eagle Eye is a constant assault on your eyes and ears. It never lets up, and that is the film’s strength. We are constantly reminded that Eagle Eye was a concept that Steven Spielberg came up with 10 years ago. While the hype of the cast and crew want you to believe this is a unique and clever story, it’s not. Films like Colossus: The Forbin Project and The Invisible Boy have mined this particular material before. The beginning is also very derivative of The Matrix. Remember that faceless voice guiding Neo’s escape? None of this means that Eagle Eye is a bad film. Almost everything takes from something else these days. I wouldn’t even mention any of it except that the cast and crew insist they are so dang clever all of the time. This is a stop-thinking adrenaline rush. “Does that nail it for you, Sherlock?”