Eagle Eye (Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, Michael Chiklis) … Director D. J. Caruso and the latest young hunk, Shia LaBeouf, teamed up for the surprisingly successful Rear Window knock-up Disturbia last year and do so again in this action-adventure sci-fi flick. Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) and Rachel Holloman (Monaghan) appear to have been randomly selected by some terrorist force to assassinate most of America’s top leaders. But no! There is purpose to the madness, and it takes almost two hours to find out what. This was movie I did not expect to like but I went anyway, mainly because I have been a LaBeouf fan since he played U.S. Open champion Frances Ouimet in The Greatest Game Ever Played and because Michelle Monaghan is a native Iowan. But I really liked this film, suspending all disbelief in the process and going on a non-stop thrill ride that, thanks to great music, sound and special effects, had me feeling like my pulse was racing the entire time.
You might say that this doesn’t sound like me since I usually am not a fan of the big-budget, effects-driven films, but I admit that this one had me from start to finish. Yes, there is a whole lot to criticize here – like the rip-off a computer and its voice that might as well have made this 2008: A Race Odyssey, including HAL – but there is more to like. It has two bankable stars, one cashing in on his recent performance in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the other from Mission Impossible III. It has fantastic action sequences, swift visual sequences, and enough supporting performances from proven stars like Rosario Dawson (Rent) and Michael Chiklis (TV’s The Shield) to keep it from being a comic book. If you don’t take the plot too seriously and you strap yourself in for heart-pounding action, you will enjoy Eagle Eye.