Eagle Eye is a 2008 action/thriller film directed by D.J. Caruso and starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan. The two portray a young man and a single mother who are brought together and coerced by an anonymous caller into carrying out a plan by a possible terrorist organization. The film has been released in regular 35mm theaters and IMAX theaters. The film grossed more than $170 million worldwide.
Plot
The United States armed forces have a lead on a suspected terrorist in the Middle East, but as the man is a recluse, getting a positive ID proves difficult, and the DOD's computer system recommends that the mission be aborted. The Secretary of Defense (Michael Chiklis) agrees with the abort recommendation, but the President orders the mission be carried out anyway. This turns into a political backlash when all those killed turn out to be civilians, and retaliatory bombings are carried out in response.
Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) is a Stanford University dropout who lacks direction and faces financial difficulty. He finds out his twin brother Ethan, an Air Force lieutenant, is dead. Following the funeral in January 2009, he goes to withdraw some money from an ATM and is surprised to see that he has $751,000 in his account. When he returns home, he finds his apartment filled with a large amount of weapons, explosives, and forged documents. He receives a phone call from an unknown woman, who explains that the FBI is about to apprehend him in thirty seconds and that he must escape.
Not believing her, he is caught by the FBI, and is sent to an interrogation room where he meets Special Agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton). When Morgan leaves the room to meet with Air Force Office of Special Investigations Special Agent Zoe Perez (Rosario Dawson), the unknown woman arranges Jerry's escape over a phone and has him join up with single mother Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan). Rachel is being coerced by the unknown woman into assisting Jerry, by threatening to kill her son, Sam, a trumpet player on his way to Washington, D.C. from Chicago for a band recital.
The woman helps the pair to avoid the Chicago Police and FBI units, demonstrating the ability to remotely control virtually any networked device, such as traffic lights, cell phones, and even automated cranes. While Jerry and Rachel follow her instructions, the woman has other 'agents' have a crystal explosive made into a necklace and its sound-based trigger placed inside Sam's trumpet. Jerry and Rachel are led from Chicago to Washington, D.C. via Indianapolis and Dayton through various means. They reach an electronics store to which the woman directs them. Over several televisions she introduces herself to them: she is a top secret supercomputer called "Autonomous Reconnaissance Intelligence Integration Analyst" referred to as Ariia tasked with gathering intelligence from all over the world. Ariia can control virtually anything electronic and has been monitoring both their lives and brought both Jerry and Rachel to her.
In light of the mistake made by the President at the beginning of the film, Ariia has decided that the executive branch is a threat to the public good and must be eliminated. Ariia plans to destroy the President's cabinet, and calls this Operation Guillotine. It has decided to leave the Secretary of Defense, who agreed with its recommendation to abort the mission, as the successor to the presidency. She does not reveal this to Jerry or Rachel, merely explaining that she is trying to help the people of the United States.
At the Pentagon, where Ariia is housed, Agent Perez discovers that Ethan worked as a technician for the computer and locked it down to prevent Ariia from carrying out her plan. Perez warns the Secretary of Defense and they discuss the situation in a sealed room to prevent Ariia from hearing their conversation. Jerry and Rachel arrive at the Pentagon and are led to the supercomputer, where Ariia forces Jerry to impersonate Ethan and use an override code allowing her to go ahead with the plan.
Jerry observes CCTV footage displaying Ethan's fatal car crash (due to sabotaged traffic lights), realizing Ariia orchestrated Ethan's death since his twin could have stopped her. She then instructs Rachel to eliminate Jerry to prevent the lock from being reinstated, but Rachel cannot bring herself to do it. Rachel is led out of the building by Ariia while Jerry is caught by Agent Morgan. Having been warned by Agent Perez, Morgan believes Jerry's story and takes him to the United States Capitol. On their way, however, Ariia sends two MQ-9 Reapers UCAV after them. The first nearly works, the second, Agent Morgan destroys by sacrificing himself, and saves Jerry.
Meanwhile, Agent Perez returns to the supercomputer and is successful in destroying it (by smashing her CPU), but not before Ariia uploads 27% of its memory to another location. Rachel is unknowingly given the explosive necklace by a corrupt official (also led by Ariia) and sent to watch the President's speech. Sam's class, whose recital has been moved from the Kennedy Center to the Capitol for the President's State of the Union Address, begins to play.
The trigger that will set off the explosive necklace is set to activate when Sam plays a high F on his trumpet corresponding to the word "free" in the last stanza of the U.S. national anthem. Jerry successfully infiltrates the vicinity dressed as a Capitol policeman and fires his pistol into the air, stopping the performance and emptying the room just as Sam starts to play the note. Jerry is then shot several times by a Secret Service agent, who is unaware of the reason for Jerry's actions.
In the aftermath of the chaos Ariia caused, the Secretary of Defense urges that another supercomputer should not be built. Ethan posthumously receives the Medal of Honor while Jerry, injured but alive and well, receives the Congressional Gold Medal. The film ends with Jerry attending Sam's birthday party. Rachel thanks him for attending and kisses him on the cheek. She then tells Jerry that she's glad he's there. He then responds, "Me too."
Cast
- Shia LaBeouf as Jerry Shaw / Ethan Shaw, a young slacker framed as a terrorist; and as his late twin Ethan Shaw, USAF officer.
- Michelle Monaghan as Rachel Holloman, A single mother, also framed as a terrorist.
- Billy Bob Thornton as Thomas Morgan, the patriotic and relentless leader of an FBI team tracking the cell.
- Rosario Dawson as Zoe Perez, a government agent tracking the terrorist cell.
- Michael Chiklis as George Callister, the US Secretary of Defense.
- Ethan Embry as Toby Grant, Morgan's assistant at the FBI
- Anthony Mackie as Major William Bowman, a soldier assigned to monitor the supercomputer.
- Cameron Boyce as Sam Holloman, Rachel's musically-gifted son.
- Julianne Moore (uncredited) as the voice of Ariia, a top-secret supercomputer bent on destroying the executive branch, believing it is a threat to the nation.
Production
Screenwriter Dan McDermott wrote the "original" script for Eagle Eye based on an "original" idea by Steven Spielberg who had been inspired by Isaac Asimov's short story "All the Troubles of the World."[2] The studio DreamWorks then bought McDermott's script and set up the project to potentially be directed by Spielberg. When the director became busy with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, he dropped out of the project. Director D.J. Caruso, who directed the 1996 TV series High Incident under Spielberg's executive production, replaced the director in helming Eagle Eye. However, Spielberg remained executive producer.[3] In June 2007, actor LaBeouf who was involved in Spielberg's and Caruso's 2007 film Disturbia and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, re-joined the director and executive producer to star as the lead in Eagle Eye. McDermott's script was rewritten by screenwriters John Glenn, Travis Wright, and Hillary Seitz in preparation for production.[4] Filming began on November 6, 2007[5] and wrapped in February 2008.[6] The film's visual effects were created by Sony Pictures Imageworks.[7]
Caruso said by the time the film came to fruition twelve years later, "the technology had finally caught up to the storytelling... Everybody has a BlackBerry or an iPhone on their belt, and we think we're constantly being tracked. It's less science fiction than when Steven (Spielberg) conceived it."[8] Caruso wanted to bring a gritty, 1970s-era sensibility to the film. Accordingly, a key chase scene in a high-tech package-processing hub on conveyor belts was shot without the use of computer-generated imagery. "It was like Chutes and Ladders for adults. It was pretty dangerous, and a lot of fun."[8] While filming the scene, Monaghan suffered a welt after a cable brushed her neck and Caruso hit his head on a protruding bolt, requiring stitches.[8]
Music
The music to Eagle Eye was written by composer Brian Tyler, who recorded the score with an 88-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Sony Scoring Stage. The session was interrupted by the Chino Hills earthquake on July 29, 2008—and a recording of the quake hitting the scoring stage is online.[9] The score was released on iTunes on September 25, 2008 and followed by a CD release on September 30.
Promotion
The official movie website features an ARG type of gameplay system to promote the film. The voice previewed behind the phone in multiple trailers contacts the player, placing them in unique experiences. This has been called the "Eagle Eye Freefall Experience". While official cast listings do not list the name of the actress behind the mysterious voice featured in the film and trailers, Rosario Dawson confirmed at the Hollywood premiere that it belongs to Julianne Moore.[10]
Reception
Eagle Eye received generally negative to mixed reviews from critics. As of November 29, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 27% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 159 reviews, with the consensus that the film "is a preposterously plotted thriller that borrows heavily from other superior films."[11] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 43 out of 100, based on 28 reviews—indicating mixed or average reviews.[12]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave Eagle Eye a score of two stars out of four, saying: "The word preposterous is too moderate to describe Eagle Eye. This film contains not a single plausible moment after the opening sequence, and that's borderline. It's not an assault on intelligence. It's an assault on consciousness."[13] James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying: "This movie tests the viewing public's tolerance for enduring crass stupidity when the payoff is a series of repetitive, ADD-infected chase scenes. Director D.J. Caruso does a moderately good job of hiding how incredibly dumb this screenplay is by keeping things moving at such a whirlwind pace that a lot more seems to be happening than actually is. In reality, the chase scenes don't mean anything because they don't advance the plot—it's mice on a treadmill, running and running and not getting anywhere."[14] The Hollywood Reporter called it a "slick, silly techno thriller" and "Even those who surrender all disbelief at the door will be hard pressed not to smirk at some of wildly improbable plotting."[15]
Josh Rosenblatt of The Austin Chronicle enjoyed the film, calling it "good, manic fun plus a heavy dose of political intrigue adding up to two hours of clamorous, mind-numbing nonsense." Calling it "The Transporter 2 on crack."[16] William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer also gave Eagle Eye a positive review, remarking that it's "engrossing as an intellectual puzzle" and "a solid thriller."[17] Mark Bell of Film Threat said: "the film isn't a complete waste of your time [...] but don't expect anything brilliant."[18] Nathan Rabin The Onion's A.V. Club called the film "achingly idiotic" and "the unintentional laugh riot of the year."[19] Neely Tucker of The Washington Post said that Eagle Eye is "sometimes entertaining" but "doesn't have much to say."[20] Robert Koehler of Variety felt that the film's "first 35 minutes sizzle" but "the story [becomes] near-parody in the final act."[21]
Box office performance
In its opening weekend, Eagle Eye grossed $29.1 million in 3,510 theaters in the United States and Canada, reaching the first place position at the box office.[22] As of January 4, 2009, it has grossed $177.1 million worldwide—$101.2 million in the United States and Canada and $75.8 million in other territories.[1]. The budget of the film was $80 million.
Home video release
Eagle Eye was released on DVD and Blu-ray only in select stores on December 26th, 2008, three months exactly after its theatrical release, September 26th, 2008. The next day, it was released nation wide. iTunes released it a month later only as a rental. [23]
Mobile game
A mobile game based on the film was developed and published by Magmic Games. It was released for Blackberry, Windows Mobile, BREW, and J2ME devices prior to the film's launch in early September. There are also two games on the film's web site.[24][25]
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Eye
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