Eagle eye is an implausible story with great camera work and directing with a good actor. Who needs a plausible story in an action film as long as their is excitement and the story moves quickly. As far as acting I thought Shia LaBeouf was `into it' at a much higher level than Michelle Monaghan or Billy Bob Thorton.
It is not the best movie ever made and pails in comparison to the Bourne Identity for an action flick. It does touch on the `big brother watching' concept, but really at the end of Eagle Eye, there's no lesson, no moral, no ethical conundrum that makes it all worthwhile. It was just, hey, stuff happened, it was a rush, let's move on with our lives. It does get extra points for filming in Chicago.
There is a lot of talk about how much of the ideas was lifted from other movies- I'll list those at the bottom of the post.
Plot via IMD :
Jerry and Rachel 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 situations, using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move
Quick details:
Steven Spielberg served as executive producer on the film.
The writer Dan McDermott previousllywrote 13 episodes for a non renewed television series series called Angele's Eyes.
Directed by D.J. Caruso
Born in Norwalk, Connecticut, Caruso came west to play tennis and study Television Production at Pepperdine University. Interned at Disney Studios in the Product Placement department and later hooked up with Director John Badham, who mentored him into a second-unit director, after Badham lost his 2nd-unit director Rob Cohen to a first-unit directing career. He hooked up with writer Scott Rosenberg, who penned a short film for him entitled, Cyclops, Baby (1997). The film helped launch Caruso's directing career.
Other movies/ shows directed:
- Disturbia (2007)
- "The Shield" (4 episodes, 2002-2006)
- Kavanaugh (2006) TV episode
- Extraction (2006) TV episode
- Pay in Pain (2002) TV episode
- Cherrypoppers (2002) TV episode - Two for the Money (2005)
Actor Shia LaBeouf was 22 when he acts in this movie. Born June 11, 1986, in Los Angeles, California, he was an only child. His parents are divorced, and he lives with his mom in Los Angeles. He started his career by doing stand-up comedy around places in his neighborhood, such as coffee clubs. He's well known for playing Louis Stevens in the popular Disney Channel series "Even Stevens" (2000) and has won a Daytime Emmy for his performance.
Recent movies he's made:
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) .... Mutt Williams
- Transformers (2007) .... Sam Witwicky
... aka Transformers: The IMAX Experience (USA: IMAX version) - Transformers: The Game (2007) (VG) (voice) .... Sam Witwicky
- Surf's Up (2007) (voice) .... Cody Maverick
- Surf's Up (2007) (VG) (voice) .... Cody Maverick
- Disturbia (2007) .... Kale
- Bobby (2006) .... Cooper
- A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006) .... Young Dito
- The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) .... Francis Ouimet
- Constantine (2005) .... Chas Kramer
... aka Constantine (Germany) - I, Robot (2004) .... Farber
... aka I, Robot (Germany) - The Battle of Shaker Heights (2003) (as Shia La Beouf) .... Kelly Ernswiler
- Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) .... Max
Chuck the Movieguy interviews Shia LaBeouf for the movie Eagle Eye. Presented in You Tube HD.
Michelle Monaghan soon to be a mother, plays the heroic female lead.
Michelle Lynn Monaghan was born on March 23, 1976,in Winthrop, Iowa.
She studied journalism for three years at Chicago's Columbia College. In order to pay for college, she took a job as a model. In 1999, she quit college and moved to New York to work full-time as a fashion model.she starred opposite Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer in the black comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005). Later in 2005, Monaghan was filming in China, Italy, and the United States on Mission: Impossible III (2006), as the female lead opposite Tom Cruise.Other recent movies she has made:Made of Honor (2008)
Other Recent Movies:
... aka Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Australia)
Billy Bob Thorton. Academy Award winner Thornton is involved in several pursuits, from acting to directing and even jamming out with his hillbilly band, the Boxmasters, who just released a new album. In his latest action thriller, "Eagle Eye," Thornton plays Thomas Morgan, an FBI agent working against the clock to thwart a plot against the government.
Other Recent movies:
- Eagle Eye (2008) .... Agent Thomas Morgan
... aka Eagle Eye: The IMAX Experience (USA: IMAX version) - Mr. Woodcock (2007) .... Jasper Woodcock
- The Astronaut Farmer (2006) .... Charles Farmer
- School for Scoundrels (2006) .... Dr. P
- The Ice Harvest (2005) .... Vic
- Bad News Bears (2005) .... Morris Buttermaker
- Friday Night Lights (2004) .... Coach Gary Gaines
- The Alamo (2004) .... Davy Crockett
... aka The Alamo (Philippines: English title) - Chrystal (2004) .... Joe
- Bad Santa (2003) .... Willie
... aka Badder Santa (USA: longer version) - Love Actually (2003) .... The US President
- Intolerable Cruelty (2003) .... Howard D. Doyle
- Levity (2003) .... Manuel Jordan
- Waking Up in Reno (2002) .... Lonnie Earl Dodd
- The Badge (2002) .... Sheriff Darl Hardwick
Unscripted "Eagle Eye" Shia Labeouf, Michelle Monaghan and D.J. Caruso
"Eagle Eye trailer"
Other Movies Eagle Eye has been compared to , as in using very similar ideas:
Emily Behrendt and Pax Whitmore wrote
Eagle Eye can be almost entirely pieced together by using clips from other, better movies, including I, Robot, Terminator, Live Free or Die Hard, Enemy of the State, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Fugitive and War Games.
Lisa Miller Wrote:
“Eagle Eye” assembles bits from a host of better films to form a watchable collage. Though little is original, the film borrows well from classics such as “The Matrix,” “North By Northwest,” “Terminator,” and “Enemy of The State.”
James Scott however suspects it rips off Hitchcock:
"I missed Disturbia (starring Shia LaBeouf) in the theaters, and after I’d heard that it was basically a watered-down version of Hitchcock’s Rear Window, I saw no compelling need to rush out and buy or rent it. Now, LaBeouf and Disturbia director D.J. Caruso regroup for Eagle Eye, which can charitably be called a watered-down version of Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, replete with a shameless rip-off of the famous “Albert Hall sequence, plus a few overtones of North by Northwest."
