Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Eagle Eye (2008)

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 09-28-2008, 05:11 PM:

Today at Regal 15 in Eugene, #4, 35mm. Looked and sounded good, no complaints.

This movie has some problems, not the least of which is the first half takes itself too seriously, to the point of being absolutely preposterous. I mean the tone should have been "This is ridiculous, how is this happening, this is not possible!". Maybe the audience wouldn't have laughed out loud at scenes that were not supposed to be funny. I'm thinking specifically of SPOILER EXPUNGED. Then later when they get to the reveal it could have turned more serious, like "Well you think this couldn't really happen, but WHAT IF IT DID!?" That might have made for a better movie.

I give it 2.5 out of 5 mostly because they try hard, and they blow things up real good. Also lots of nice car crashes.

Posted by Jonathan M. Crist (Member # 413) on 09-28-2008, 05:18 PM:

The last time that Shia and director DJ Caruso got together was for Disturbia which was such a blatant ripoff of Rear Window that a plagerism suit has recently been filed by the Cornell Woolrich estate.

With Eagle Eye the plot is a once again a re-working of Hitchcock but this time it is a mix of North By Northwest and The Man Who Knew Too Much. In fact the whole climatic scene at the end of Eagle Eye is almost a frame-for-frame remake of the ending of The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Posted by Jennifer Pan (Member # 2035) on 09-29-2008, 03:16 AM:

Definitely more action than I expected. [beer]

Shia was better in this than Transformers thats for sure.

Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 09-29-2008, 04:09 PM:

I enjoyed it, as proposterous or improbable it was, or even as likely and inevitable it was.

The only problem I had was in, literally, the last 3 minutes. That's how much time passes from the climax to the credits ... and definitely some of it (possibly all of it) had the stench of rewrite/reshoot. It really seemed to me like there was some batch of test audiences who didn't like [what I felt SHOULD have been the ending that makes more sense with the themes of the movie], and they pulled a brand new final scene from out of someone's posterior.

Anyway, that Michelle Monagan is cute.

Oh, another observation ... there are plenty of REAL products/companies/etc. placed all around (McDonald's, Myspace & Facebook, Rock Band the video game, Porche, ...) and yet he doesn't work at FedEx Kinko's. It's the perfectly generically-titled Copy Cabana! That stood out for me, for some reason.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 09-29-2008, 06:50 PM:

Maybe Fedex/Kinko's didn't want to pay the big bucks.

Posted by Tyler Potts (Member # 4952) on 09-29-2008, 07:26 PM:

My favorite flogging review of the movie has been:

"I want you to take the Porsche to McDonalds, use your Visa Gift Cards to go to Circuit City and buy Rock Band. Disobey and you die!"

Aside from a mediocre plot, its suspenseful and entertaining. I have not been a fan of Shia. Angered that friends gave me a blank look when I said how horrible of a remake Disturbia was of Rear Window.

Shia had a very reactive approach to the movie, almost a Goldblum nervous twitch. At the end when he's standing on the table after firing a few shots, his entire body is rigid and he's completely trembling. Absolutely terrified and going through with it. Totally sold me.

Eagle Eye: 3/5

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 09-29-2008, 08:12 PM:

Shia was ok, I had no problem with him. I really liked Disturbia as a modern remake of a classic.

Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 09-30-2008, 04:23 AM:

Yep ... Circuit City ... Sprint ... everyone's a Sprint subscriber in this film.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-30-2008, 12:09 PM:

There must be another movie called Eagle Eye, because the Eagle Eye I saw was stupid and downright awful.

1 out of 5 (1 given to the movie for Shia doing the best he could with such a terrible script)

SPOILER ALERT
I liked Disturbia overall and was even able to overlook the ending where Turner, who just moved into an existing house, has already accumulated bodies in his cavernous basement with hidden doors and such. Yeah right, as if Shia wouldn't have noticed the construction workers when the guy moved in. [Roll Eyes]

Eagle Eye was that multiplied by about 10,000.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 10-08-2008, 07:58 AM:

This movie was decent and watchable and somewhat entertaining. The writers definitely earned their money working in all of the advertising. One thing that I didn't like was how "in your face" the political statement was. If you want to make a subtle statement that gives thought to people that is fine but coming out with voiceovers was a little much.

Anyway, 2/5 from me.