Just got done watching Eagle Eye, starring Shia LaBeouf. In a word, I am disappointed.
SPOILERS!
SUMMARY: A covert military AI system, codename ARIA built to analyze intel for the government, has gone haywire. This uber-AI has access to everything connected to 'teh internets'. By manipulating Jerry Shaw and Rachel Holloman, played by Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan respectively, rogue ARIA plans to exterminate the chain of command in "Project Guillotine".
STORY: Super-powered AI is nothing new. Super-powered AI gone rogue is a stale concept too, to say the least. Eagle Eye's general concept of being under constant surveillance is interesting at best. How ARIA convinces LaBeouf and Holloman's characters to do as she says is hardly forgivable: Holloman's son is on a train, which she threatens to derail if she defies her commands... Because
everyone knows that train tracks are on the Verizon network. Any immersion that is established is totally shattered by countless absurd plot-holes. Somehow, the magical AI assumes control of: construction equipment, car doors, any and every security camera, and is even able
to manipulate electricity, to name a few. At some points in the film, I couldn't help but laugh: wherever ARIA is unable to capture audio surveillance, it manages to discern every word of a conversation simply by reading the ripples made in Michael Chiklis's cup of coffee. Now I
could be wrong, but that is an
undeniable physical impossibility. Eagle Eye is wrought with these contrived absurdities.
In short, the story is a decent concept, but it is executed poorly.
3/10
ACTING: Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, and Billy Bob Thornton live up to their names and rescue Eagle Eye from being a
total failure. Dialogue is minimal, but what's there is well done. ARIA steals the show, voiced by Julianne Moore. Her drone, robotic voice is easily the strongest the most convincing element of the film, contesting Portal's GLaDOS. (For whatever reason though, she was left uncredited.. hmm.)
9/10
FINAL SCORE: 4/10 Not for anyone beyond a remedial education.
