• the217
• Movies + TV
• Big Brother is watching

Related Media

Eagle Eye

Buzz says:   MPAA Rating: PG-13
Current Showtimes: No showtimes available

The government is watching all of us. Our cell phones allow them to hear everything we say, even when they’re turned off. None of us are safe. That’s what Eagle Eye would like us to believe, anyway.

Shia LaBeouf stars as slacker Jerry Shaw, who spends his nights playing poker and working at the Copy Cabana. Like any decent movie slacker, Jerry lives alone and can’t afford to pay his rent. Not long after we meet Jerry, he gets a call that his identical twin brother, Ethan, has died. Jerry and Ethan were polar opposites, Ethan being a genius who went to the Air Force Academy. When Jerry returns from his brother’s funeral, he finds his apartment stuffed with boxes of guns, bazookas and fake passports. From that point, a creepy-voiced woman keeps calling him, giving him instructions that he must follow if he wants to live.

Thrown into the mix is single mom Rachel Holloman, played by Michelle Monaghan. Like any decent movie single mom, Rachel has a deadbeat ex-husband who forgets birthdays and is never on time. If Rachel doesn’t do what the creepy woman tells her to do, her son will die. Rachel and Jerry are forced together, and much car chasing through the streets of Chicago ensues. The people in control can do anything, calling them on phones of people they don’t know, changing traffic lights, switching directions of trains. It doesn’t matter that the FBI is on their tail. These people are, apparently, more powerful than the FBI. When we do finally find out who’s pulling the strings, it’s not hard to piece everything together, and the movie becomes slightly predictable, but it works.

Despite the (hopefully) far-fetched premise, the movie’s still fun. It kept me on the edge of my seat, and even after I knew what was going to happen, I was still nervous for Rachel and Jerry. LaBeouf really does know how to deliver a line, and he and Monaghan have good chemistry. Billy Bob Thornton is entertaining as the FBI agent on their tail. It’s also nice to see Chicago onscreen yet again. Eagle Eye isn’t a masterpiece, but so what? Go see it, eat a lot of popcorn, and enjoy. And get rid of that cell phone.