Release Date: Sept. 26
Director: D.J. Caruso
Writer: John Glenn, Travis Wright, Hillary Seitz, Dan McDermott
Cinematographer: Dariusz Wolski
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Billy Bob Thornton, Rosario Dawson, Michael Chiklis
Studio/Running Time: DreamWorks, 120 mins.
Disturbia director’s follow-up rife with entertainment, not suspense
After a successful alliance with the Rear Window-styled thriller Disturbia, director D.J. Caruso and the teen-star-who-strives-to-be-treated-as-an-adult-star Shia LaBeouf (note the scruff on his face above) have teamed up again for the action drama Eagle Eye. And there’s more of everything this time—more action, more effects, more stars, more at stake. However, sometimes more is less, and in this case the suspense suffers. As is so often the case with a film that tries to be everything, it fails, though far from entirely.
After cash-poor copy store clerk Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) hits the jackpot via an unexpectedly ample bank account, his elation is shattered as he arrives home to find a terrorist’s cache of weapons spread throughout his apartment. Within seconds he receives the first of many phone calls from a woman who appears to be watching his every move. She eventually forces Shaw to escape authorities and accompany a mother (Michelle Monaghan) who has been told her son will die unless she also follows instructions explicitly. All of this results in violent car crashes, vaporizing electrocutions and guided missile attacks on the streets of Washington, D.C.
This is a film of two parts. The mystery for the first hour is determining the identity of “Eagle Eye,” who appears to be able to control every camera and computer system in the country. The second half, after her identity is revealed, focuses on discovering the couple’s final, deadly assignment. The suspense Caruso so cleverly laid out in Disturbia isn’t nearly as evident in Eagle Eye. And while their portrayals are adequate, neither LaBeouf nor Monaghan come close to their respective performances in Disturbia and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. (Billy Bob Thornton, however, is perfect as the FBI agent pursuing Shaw.) Even though the political, big-brother-is-watching, conspiratorial aspect of the film tries much too hard, the fast and furious pace of Eagle Eye makes for an entertaining time.