Spring Break
'Eagle Eye' lacks logic in unoriginal plot
Latest LaBeouf flick leaves plot holes
Kip Mooney
Issue date: 9/26/08 Section: ARTS & LIFE
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 increasingly 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 particular 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 slings obscenities (PG-13-level of course) like a pro.
Unfortunately, Rosario Dawson, one of Hollywood's most versatile actresses, is wasted here as the U.S. Air Force liaison investigating 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.
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 increasingly 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 particular 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 slings obscenities (PG-13-level of course) like a pro.
Unfortunately, Rosario Dawson, one of Hollywood's most versatile actresses, is wasted here as the U.S. Air Force liaison investigating 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.
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