Eagle Eye (2008)

Eagle Eye. What do I think about Shia LaBeouf? Love/Hate, at best. I thought that he was quite decent on D.J Caruso's Disturbia (probably his first big role) even if its resemblance to Hitchcock was rather uncanny, and then I don't really care about him on Transformers for all I care about was understandably, its Autobots and Decepticons line and given that a small fraction of the care leftovers I had from the film (if there's even any) goes to Megan Fox, it practically renders him nearly invisible. And of course, we had Indiana Jones. If even Stan thought George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had raped Indy, how would you think I'd fared? A kid who grew with Raiders of the Lost Ark? Not very much. Anyways, Eagle Eye is one of those films with catchy trailer that actually looks good, heck, probably awesome in some standard and the fact that this film again pitted Shia under D.J Caruso's direction, I was willing to give it a try.

Brutally honest? For all its worth, the film would please most casual viewers flocking the theater on a weekend for an escape from a daily routine while having a buttered pop-corn and ogling the screen for a light entertainment albeit a forgettable one. Well, actually, after the film ended, I heard a whisper from a dude who sat in front of me proclaimed that it was and I quote, "a best non-stop action film" I took an interest to this dude because he has spent most of the film texting with his phone (Oh, how I hate this kind of attitude. The glare, folks! The glare!).

Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) is a rebel, a laid-back dude who has been under the shadow of his twin-brother for most of his life. That's why instead of going to Stanford, he chooses to work in a copy shop, gambling in his spare-time, scraping for change to pay his rent, and cut all ties to his family. One day, he found that his bank account increased by $750,000 overnight, and there's enough equipment in his apartment to start a World War III. Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monahan) is a single-mom, on her way to sent her kid for a musical performance in D.C. Enjoying her rare quality time, she went out with her friends until a phone call arrives telling her to do things in exchange for the safety of her son. Meanwhile, Jerry captured by the F.B.I only to find himself receiving the similar phone calls that helped him escape the containment and put him firmly on the red book of the F.B.I. Jerry and Rachel met, car chases ensues, explosions here and there, Eagle Eye, final confrontation, and a fitful ending. Now, whoever controlled Jerry and Rachel Holloman has access to almost any electronic devices from satellite, phone cells, traffic lights, automatic crane stuffs, even to McDonald's CCTV!. My advice, don't ever think about the reason behind why such a powerful entity or organization that had its fingers on almost anything (Brother Eye style) still required the assistance of two normal people to do its bidding because this film works well if you just sit back, relax, and put your mind at ease. Oh, and digging to that huge and greasy pop-corn of yours certainly helps to kill some stray thinking cells in your brain.

As for me, the film ended after the FIRST car chase. Granted, its probably the only memorable sequence in this film if there's one. The camera however, swivel and shifted like it was in the middle of a hurricane. Occasionally, we get a glimpse or two of our hero/heroine only to be replaced by flying metals, crashes and explosions in a quick cuts but of course, that is how they shoot action sequences these days. Still, D.J Caruso earned a kudos for this sequence. Even so, believe me or not, I have already guessed the entire plot after this scene and I had to stifle a laugh when the final confrontation occurs because it remind me to a film, which has been cross-referenced so many times I've lost count (I've seen it twice for this year's film releases alone) and in an inferior and pathetic way it's almost sad. I'm not telling what film though. That, and the film runs a bit too long for my taste (of course, given that I've already guessed the plot and manages to keep one-two steps further in the plot development) and this is coming from a guy who loves Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Captivo.

And oh, Shia LaBeouf is still Steven Spielberg's "Golden Boy" I was surprised during the end credit that this film's Executive Producer is Mr.Spielberg himself. Just when I thought that Shia could finally get out of his clutch.

My rating : ** / **** - Not my cup of tea, too easy, too long in dwindling before the plot concludes, but action fans should enjoy this film. I've seen no significant improvement from Shia (he still bore that same "panic" look simply because the film keep telling him to "Run, Jerry! Run!") and the rest of the cast fared in similar manner. With perhaps one exception, Michael Chiklis even if he only appears in two or three short scenes. Love the guy! Imagine a less badass version of Death Race with dialog! That's why the dude who sits in front of me was able to texting the whole time and manages to utter a comment about "best non-stop action film" His word, not mine.