Dir:  DJ Caruso   Stars:  Shia Lebouf, Michelle Monahan, Billy Bob Thornton

Synopsis:  Shia Lebouf and Michelle Monahan play two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call.  They're forced into a series of increasingly dangerous situations, using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move.  They become the country's most wanted fugitives, as they work together to figure out what's going on.

I was actually sort of surprised about just how bad Eagle Eye was.  It was produced by Spielberg and has a pretty reliable cast.  It started off well enough, but quickly sunk into the depths of a horrid mess.  The script is incredibly stupid.  To the movie's credit, there are some great action sequences, and the crazy pace of the movie hides the flaws in the story, for awhile, at least.

Some might like the action in the movie, but it was all smoke and mirrors, and action needs to be a part of the story.  I love a movie with a great chase scene, but everything that happens on screen should be moving the plot forward.  Eagle Eye was just people running for the sake of making running look exciting --- there was no suspense whatsover.  The filmmakers need to learn that just because everyone is running at top speed, and the actors look panicked, and the music is deafening, doesn't mean you have created suspense.  In fact, you can see every twist in this movie coming from a mile away.

Eagle Eye has a message about letting the computers take control, though it feels tacked on to try and give the movie some deeper credibility.  Perhaps we shouldn't let bad filmmakers take control?  The main bad guy --- a voice/computer that has the power to tap into every computer and electronic device in the world --- has limitless power.  So here's the BIG FLAW in the movie --- why would this computer need to rely on a couple of puny humans to carry out it's shenanigans?  It makes no sense.  And once you figure that out, you look back and say to yourself, "what was the point of all that running around?"  Once the smoke and mirrors are cleared away, we realize there was no need for such a wild goose chase.

They had a fun idea for a paranoid little thriller, something that could have been a great dumb popcorn movie, but they took themselves way to seriously.  This was a bad idea for a movie that was already teetering on the edge of being a bad parody of better movies.

1 Dork out of 5 on the Geek-o-Meter.

Also --- just a quick props to Paul Newman, who died of cancer at 83 the other day.  One of the best actors of his time, and an even better humanitarian.  When he made Richard Nixon's enemies list, he was quoted as saying that it was his proudest moment.  Rest in Peace, Mr. Newman.  You will be missed.