Eagle Eye

Eagle Eye is a 2008 American action-thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso and with a screenplay by John Glenn, Travis Adam Wright, Hillary Seitz and Dan McDermott from a story by McDermott. The film stars Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan and Billy Bob Thornton. It follows two strangers who must go on the run together, after receiving a mysterious phone call from an unknown woman who uses information and communications technology to track them. The film premiered in traditional theaters and IMAX theaters on September 26, 2008, and grossed $178 million worldwide.
Plot
In January 2009, Stanford University dropout Jerry Shaw learns that his identical twin brother Ethan, an officer in the U.S. Air Force, has been killed. Following the funeral, Jerry is surprised to find $750,000 in his bank account and his apartment filled with illegal firearms and bomb making materials. He receives a phone call from a woman who warns that the FBI is about to arrest him and he needs to run. Disbelieving the voice, Jerry is caught by the FBI and interrogated by Supervising Agent Tom Morgan.
While Morgan confers with Air Force OSI Special Agent Zoe Pérez, the woman on the phone arranges for Jerry's escape and directs him to Rachel Holloman, a single mother. The woman on the phone is coercing Rachel by threatening her son Sam, who is aboard the Capitol Limited en route to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., with his school band. The woman on the phone helps the two avoid law enforcement by controlling networked devices, including traffic lights, mobile phones, automated cranes, and even power lines.
Meanwhile, the caller redirects a crystalline explosive to a gemcutter, who cuts it and fixes it into a necklace. Another man steals Sam's trumpet in Chicago and fits the crystal's sonic trigger into the tubing before forwarding it to Sam in Washington.
Agent Perez is summoned by Secretary of Defense George Callister to be read into Ethan's job at the Pentagon. Ethan monitored the Department of Defense's top-secret intelligence-gathering supercomputer, the Autonomous Reconnaissance Intelligence Integration Analyst (ARIIA). Callister leaves Perez with Major William Bowman and ARIIA to investigate Ethan Shaw's death. Simultaneously, Rachel and Jerry learn that the woman on the phone is actually ARIIA, and that she has "activated" them according to the Constitution's authorization to recruit civilians for the national defense.
Perez and Bowman find evidence that Ethan Shaw hid in ARIIA's chamber and leave to brief Callister. Afterwards, ARIIA smuggles Jerry and Rachel into her observation theater under the Pentagon. Both groups learn that after ARIIA's recommendation was ignored and a botched operation in Balochistan resulted in the deaths of U.S. citizens, ARIIA concluded that "to prevent more bloodshed, the executive branch must be removed." ARIIA is acting on behalf of "We the People", and cites the Declaration of Independence ("whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it").
Belatedly, Jerry learns he has been brought to circumvent biometric locks placed by his twin that prevent ARIIA from activating Operation Guillotine, a military simulation of maintaining government after the loss of all presidential successors. Because Secretary Callister agreed with ARIIA's abort recommendation regarding Balochistan, he is to be the designated survivor and new president after the crystal detonates at the State of the Union (SOTU).
Another of ARIIA's agents extracts Rachel from the Pentagon and gives her a dress and the explosive necklace to wear to the SOTU. Sam's school band has also been redirected to the United States Capitol to play for the president, bringing the trigger in Sam's trumpet and the explosive together. Jerry is recaptured by Agent Morgan, who has become convinced of Jerry's innocence. Before sacrificing himself to stop an armed MQ-9 Reaper sent by ARIIA, Morgan gives Jerry his weapon and ID with which to gain entrance to the Capitol. Arriving in the House Chamber, Jerry fires the handgun in the air to disrupt the concert before being shot and wounded by the Secret Service.
Sometime later, in April 2009, Callister reports that ARIIA has been decommissioned and recommends against building another; the Shaw twins and Agents Perez and Morgan receive awards for their actions; and Jerry attends Sam's birthday party, earning Rachel's gratitude and a kiss.
Cast
Shia LaBeouf as Jerry Shaw, Ethan's twin brother, an intelligent but rebellious young man working at a copy store.
LaBeouf also plays Ethan Shaw, Jerry's twin brother and a Senior Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force, assigned as a Minuteman to the ARIIA program.
Michelle Monaghan as Rachel Holloman, a woman who is being coerced by ARIIA.
Julianne Moore as the voice of the super computer ARIIA, aka the "unknown woman".
Rosario Dawson as Zoë Perez, an Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) Captain and Special Agent.
Michael Chiklis as George Callister, the US Secretary of Defense.
Anthony Mackie as Major William Bowman, a United States Army Minuteman assigned to the ARIIA program.
Billy Bob Thornton as Tom Morgan, an FBI Supervisory Special Agent assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Ethan Embry as Toby Grant, an FBI agent working for Morgan.
Anthony Azizi as Ranim Khalid, an Iranian American music shop owner manipulated by ARIIA
Cameron Boyce as Sam Holloman, Rachel's son.
Production
Screenwriter Dan McDermott wrote the original script for Eagle Eye based on an idea by Steven Spielberg, who had been inspired by Isaac Asimov's short story "All the Troubles of the World." 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, with Spielberg remaining as executive producer. 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. Filming began on November 6, 2007 and wrapped in February 2008. The film's visual effects were created by Sony Pictures Imageworks.
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 on their belt, and we think we're constantly being tracked. It's less science fiction than when Steven Spielberg conceived it." 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." While filming the scene, Monaghan suffered a welt after a cable brushed her neck and Caruso hit his head on a protruding bolt, and a cameraman suffered a puncture wound requiring stitches.
Music
The music to Eagle Eye was composed by 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.
Promotion
The official 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.
Reception
Box office
Entertainment Weekly predicted the opening weekend could be as high as $31 million. The film grossed $29.1 million from 3,510 theaters in the United States and Canada, taking the number one position at the box office. The film went on to gross $101.4 million in the United States and Canada and $76.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $178 million, against a production budget of $80 million.
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 26% based on 183 reviews, with an average rating of 4.70/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Eagle Eye is a preposterously plotted thriller that borrows heavily from other superior films." Metacritic gave the film an average score of 43 out of 100, based on reviews from 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two out of four stars, 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." 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." 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 the wildly improbable plotting."
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 "Transporter 2 on crack." 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." Mark Bell of Film Threat said: "the film isn't a complete waste of your time [...] but don't expect anything brilliant." Neely Tucker of The Washington Post said that Eagle Eye is "sometimes entertaining" but "doesn't have much to say." Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly called it "A brain-squandering thriller." Robert Koehler of Variety felt that the film's "first 35 minutes sizzle" but "the story [becomes] near-parody in the final act."
Accolades
Eagle Eye was a nominee for a 2009 Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film and was nominated by the Visual Effects Society Awards in the category of Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture.
Home media
Eagle Eye was released on DVD and Blu-ray only in select stores on December 26, 2008, three months after its theatrical release, September 26, 2008. In the first week on the DVD sales chart, Eagle Eye sold 182,592 units which translated to in revenue. In the second week, sales rose significantly to 1,044,682 for that week, opening at No. 1 and earning for that week. As per the latest figures, 2,181,959 units have been sold, bringing in $38,008,436 in revenue. This does not include Blu-ray sales or DVD rentals.
The next day, it was released nationwide. iTunes released it a month later as a rental and buy.
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 Java ME devices prior to the film's launch in early September. There are also two games on the film's web site.
See also
Billion Dollar Brain
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Combat Zones That See
List of films featuring drones
List of films featuring surveillance
References
External links
Freefall Experience
Scoring Session Photo Gallery at ScoringSessions.com
2000s mystery films
2008 action thriller films
2008 films
2008 science fiction films
American action thriller films
American chase films
American mystery films
American science fiction action films
DreamWorks Pictures films
Drone films
2000s English-language films
Films about artificial intelligence
Films about computing
Films about Delta Force
Films about security and surveillance
Films about terrorism
Films directed by D. J. Caruso
Films scored by Brian Tyler
Films set in 2009
Films set in Afghanistan
Films set in Balochistan, Pakistan
Films set in Indianapolis
Films set in Washington, D.C.
Films shot in Chicago
IMAX films
Paramount Pictures films
Techno-thriller films
United States presidential succession in fiction
War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) films
Films set in Chicago
Films about fictional presidents of the United States
2000s American films