Eagle Eye
Last year, director D.J. Caruso (who previously hit it bit with geeks with the underrated “The Salton Sea”) catapulted Shia LaBeouf to stardom with a star turn in “Disturbia,” which updated Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” for the YouTube generation (lawsuit pending). This year, Caruso and LaBeouf reunite to take on the Master of Suspense’s favorite subject- the man on the lam (see “North By Northwest,” “Saboteur,” “The Man Who Knew Too Much”)- under the watchful eyes of genre aces Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (who only produced this film after turning their writing hands into box-office gold the past couple of years with the likes of “Transformers” and “M:i-III”) and executive producer Steven Spielberg (do you get that he likes LaBeouf?). The result is a high-tech, high-octane thriller that reminds you not just of Hitchcock but also Tony Scott’s underrated “Enemy of the State” and Spielberg’s own “Minority Report.” As for LaBeouf- let’s just say that DiCaprio-sized popularity is his for the taking. With Spielberg in his corner, that shouldn’t be that hard to achieve.
Shia stars as Jerry Shaw, a young man with little direction in his life, much to the chagrin of his parents- his twin brother Ethan, who went into the Air Force, showed much more responsibility. But tragedy strikes hard for Jerry when Ethan is killed in a car accident under suspicious circumstances. That’s when life really gets, shall we say, Hitchcockian for Jerry. No sooner is he back from the funeral and a tense conversation with his father than Jerry is showing a substantial increase in his bank account (along the lines of 750K- if this is what we can expect in terms of a bailout count me in 🙂 ) and an apartment full of explosive materials and weapons. Could this be linked in with Ethan’s death? Or maybe perhaps a decision to take out a potential terrorist leader by our Commander in Chief under questionable intelligence? A mysterious phone call accurately telling him that the FBI will be arresting him in 30 seconds points to just the beginning of a complicated lose-lose game for Jerry. But no sooner is he questioned by FBI agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton) than another call somehow gets through to Jerry, plotting his escape from FBI custody.
This latter happening brings him together with Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan), a single mother who just sent her young son Sam off with his music group to Washington to play for the President of the United States. Rachel has also received a phone call- same person (who sounds suspiciously like Julianne Moore, although I have no evidence to back that up)- saying that if she doesn’t comply, the train carrying her son would be blown up. With the pieces in place, this mystery person sends Jerry and Rachel on the run- from not just Morgan but Air Force investigator Zoe Perez (Rosario Dawson)- and on a series of tasks that lead them to a scenario neither of them can possibly imagine.
Working from a carefully-crafted screenplay by John Glenn, Travis Wright, Hillary Seitz, and Dan McDermott, Caruso’s direction is more lifted from the Bruckheimer school of filmmaking- in other words, dizzying camerawork and frantic editing during action scenes, and constant peril otherwise- than Spielbergian school of crisp shooting and cutting with moments of feeling interspersed appropriately. He feels more like a pretender to the throne of Tony and Ridley Scott than a Spielberg protege, but that’s not bad company to be in either; Tony is an action ace with a knack for smart casting choices that can raise the bar on even the most formulaic films (see “True Romance,” “Crimson Tide,” “Top Gun,” “Enemy of the State,” “Deja Vu”), even if his over the top style backfires sometimes (“Domino” and “Man on Fire”). Caruso knows his way around the genre, bringing on gifted people like cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (“The Crow,” the “Pirates” films) and composer Brian Tyler (“Constantine,” “Bubba Ho-Tep”) to give the film an expert look and sound, and putting together set pieces like Jerry and Rachel’s first fleeing from the law and a scene in an airport baggage routing room that deliver the action goods, even if they lack much of the innovation of some of Spielberg’s smartest sequences (like damn near everything in “Minority Report,” for example). Still, cinema needs solid craftsmen as much as is does ingenious artists, and Caruso is starting to prove himself one of the better of the former (“Disturbia” was an unexpected pleasure).
On the acting front, all the performers here are acting below their pay grade, but they aren’t here to show off their chops but deliver smart star turns, and none of them disappoint. After his breakout year last year, LaBeouf is riding the tide of popularity in high style, with his sharp wit and rough charisma shining bright as the down-on-his-luck Jerry, also capable of moments of real feeling when it comes to his family’s fractured state. Like in “Transformers” and “Disturbia” last year (and going back to his first star performance in Disney’s “Holes”), LaBeouf is the kind of actor capable of making you buy into any circumstance, no matter how outlandish, a quality he shares with the likes of Cruise, Ford, and Smith- expect much of the same type of success out of Shia as his career progresses. Matching him step-for-step is Monaghan, who first became know in her sexy and whip-smart performance in Shane Black’s “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” and has been trying to find another breakout role ever since (“Made of Honor” anyone?), with prominent roles in “M:i-III,” “North Country,” and “Gone Baby Gone.” “Eagle Eye” should finally be that push- she’s got that tough emotional core and sharp smarts that sets her apart from the more-bubbly (but no-less appealing) likes of Amy Adams and Kate Hudson, allowing her a more accessible fit in films like “Eagle Eye” and “M:i-III” than those actresses could find. Comparisons to Kate Winslet, Julia Roberts, and Charlize Theron- in terms of what distinguishes them from other actresses- would not be out of the question if you ask me. This is her and Shia’s movie, with Thornton, Dawson, and Michael Chiklis (“The Shield”) as the Secretary of Defense serving the same kind of function actors of their caliber do in Bruckheimer productions, being recognizable names in second-tier roles that need to be strong but not overpowering. Hitchcock used such character actors in the same way in his films.
“Eagle Eye” is along the same lines of many a political thriller of years past- “Minority Report” and “Enemy of the State” come most to mind in their bold assertions of governmental spying and interference in free will with state-of-the-art technology that feels very sci-fi, but with technology in general hitting new levels of intellect all the time, some things feel less sci-fi than they used to. Some friends and I got together and watched “North By Northwest” this week prior to “Eagle Eye’s” opening- as much fun as the new brand of thriller is to watch, I kind of miss the comparative innocence of Hitchcock’s films.
