Eagle Eye "Cherry", Not

Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) and Rachel Holloman (Monaghan) are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, she pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of increasingly dangerous situation, using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move. As the situation escalates, these two ordinary people become the country's most wanted fugitives, who must work together to discover what is really happening. Fighting for their lives, they become pawns of a faceless enemy who seems to have limitless power to manipulate everything they do.

- (source: Official Eagle Eye Webpage)

++ Warning: Little spoilers ahead ++

Interestingly, the plot of the movie seems predictable yet unpredictable. Spielberg definitely had control over the movie, spinning and twisting around the yet another "Government Conspiracy" thriller genre. Being a Human VS Artificial Intelligence flick that combines the credible tones of other past successful movies, it needs to live up to that level of expectations, failing so will drag it down to pits of blockbuster-disappointment. I am proud to say that this one is clever stuff. Though you might read from rotten tomatoes that it received negative reviews and despite it receiving less publicity, it survived to become one of the must-see thrillers of 2008. The technologies pictured in the film is just finger tips away from us. Biometric, Voice Recognition, Facial Recognition, Cell Phone Invasion, AI, Ultra Memory Storage, and Network Automated Control System just to name a few are all presently available in our daily lives, what more those technologies that had been kept secret in the Pentagon. Chilling isn't it? That's not all. Since 911, the United States had doubled their work in field intelligence gathering, relying heavily on the most sophisticated nanotechs to get the job done. What more can we say? Spielberg just speculated the worse case scenario. That's all =)

Eagle Eye carries similar ideology and elements from movies like Die Hard 4 (Cyber Terrorism), Terminator (Artificial Intelligence), Minority Report (Predictions), and Vantage Point (Assassination). LaBeouf's performance is beyond praises as he could carry himself to being "chased-after" again, in a different scenario. His panic countenance not only brings out the naive boy in him, but also the aggressive adult with nothing to lose attitude. Monaghan also proves that she is not to be taken lightly beside LaBeouf. Being a fighter-mother, she played it well when you can see her desperation in the name of her son.

The fact that Mr. Spielberg prefered to have LaBeouf to star in most of his latest projects only meant one thing. Spielberg had found a new and young prodigy in his films replacing the likes of Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks, and Tom Cruise. This can be proven through movies like Disturbia, Transformers, Indiana Jones, and Eagle Eye being the latest production with LaBeouf. It is not a surprise as Spielberg prefers working with production members (including actors/actresses) with whom he has developed an existing working relationship. For one, Labeouf has a bright future ahead of him.

I, on the other hand, am a fan of such thrillers. Carol, being a fan of chick flicks (all girls do?), had grown to like it as well. We've actually watched more action movies than soapy lovey emotionally drained movies together. That being said, she's the one who is more tolarable to my preference. I love her for being that way.

"Follow directions and you'll live through this" - A.R.I.A.

Cheers.