When I see a film associated with three distinct genres I start to wonder. There are cases where the various different types can compliment each other. For example comedy and drama tend to go very well together. The film ‘Eagle Eye’ is hailed as a movie that covers three genres; mystery, thriller and action. This is not a unprecedented combination and has worked out in the past. There problem here is whether the audience can suspend disbelief long enough to accept the plot. While that is common for many films this one will take more than just a modicum of effort in this arena. As premises for a movie go this one ranks up there with the most implausible. Regular people are drawn into vast and deadly conspiracy and made to listen to an unknown voice on their cell phones. Having grown up in Brooklyn, New York I know that anyone here would hang up on a mysterious voice after shouting more than a few works not considered proper in polite society. This is a mystery in that we don’t know the motivation for the calls. The thriller aspect is created with the circumstances and the action part comes from the chases that seem to appear on a fairly regular schedule. There is yet another genre at play here, science fiction. The technology employed here is too far fetch for all but the most die hard conspiracy advocates to believe. It is current technology taken to a level that cannot exist at this point in time. My best friend often watches flicks with me and his trademark phrase is ‘you’re thinking too much’. While that advice works well in fantasy or straightforward Sci-Fi with a thriller and mystery there should be some foundation in reality. This is necessary to provide a sense of immediacy to the story; a feeling that it could happen to you. The film was made for about $80 million which is very small for a modern action flick. It did make more than this sum back for the studio so it could be considered a success. You now have a chance to watch it and decide for yourself with the DVD and Blu-ray releases.

The story here came from Dan McDermott whose previous work was ‘Angela’s Eyes’ about a young woman fighting against covert forces. Handling the actual script was a team of writers; John Glenn, Travis Wright, Hillary Seitz and McDermott. Glenn has a previous TV episode credit but is new to the business. Wright is also a first timer in this department. Seitz has a really well made script to his name; ‘Insomnia’ which started Al Pacino and Robin Williams. Now that was a taut psychological thriller done the way this genre should be handled. In this tale the basic premise is ordinary people pulled into to circumstances far beyond their control. This is the hook that does grab the audience since they can readily identify with the protagonists. What takes us out of the action is the far fetch way the people are coerced and the ultimate reveal leaves a lot to be desired. The story is dependent on two things that are certain to get the interest of the audience; technology gone wild and politics. We live in such a time when almost anything can be attributed to technology. If you are writing a script and find yourself in a bind all you have to do is introduce some top secret technology and you can carry on. In the political aspects of the story here it plays on the fears that many people have had for the last few years. Terrorism has provided a means for the government to far exceed their normal scope of powers; at least in a politically thriller for the movies. In a film it is possible to stretch your imagination to accommodate one such factor but two together make things very difficult for the audience. Considering the writing team is relatively new to this type of endeavor it should just be a matter of some time and experience before they can succeed. You should give them credit for trying something as difficult as a film of this type so early on in their careers. It is better to attempt something difficult and not fully succeed than take the easy road to becoming a hack.

Handling the directorial chores here was D.J. Caruso. He got his start in directing with a cult classic Australian TV show ‘VR5’ about virtual reality. He went on to several thrillers and crime drama oriented flicks and directing episodes of American television series such as ‘Smallville’ and the hyper intense ‘The Shield’. Most recently he helmed the movies ‘Two for the Road’ and ‘Distrubia’. With a thin script to work with Caruso had to do something to grab and hold the attention of the audience. He did this with extremely fast pacing. There is plenty of action here to go around. Since the two leads did many of their own stunts it was possible to use tighter shots that would be possible when stunt men are used. When possible this is a great technique since it allows the director to show the faces of the actors and their reaction to what is going on. In this case that aspect of his style works but ultimately comes across as more sizzle than steak. Caruso was caught in a difficult position. In order to present a solid mystery you need to go slow, building the tension up to a grand climax that comes with the final reveal. It feels as if Caruso is trying to distract the audience from the implausible nature of the story with non stop action. This makes for an exciting ride but does little to engage the audience on any other level. This is a visceral film that is experienced not understood.

The film starts out with the hunt for a suspected terrorist. He is rarely seen and difficult to track so the programming of the intelligence computer recommends aborting the mission. This is overridden by direct orders of the President and ultimately the mission is carried out and fails. In Chicago Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) is a looser and slacker. He dropped out of college and is finding it impossible to make ends meet. He finds out that his twin brother, an air force officer, was recently killed. When jerry goes to the ATM he discovers that his balance has been bumped up by $750,000. Going back home there are a bunch of boxes waiting in his apartment. They contain weapons, explosives and phony documents; the jackpot for any terrorist. He receives a call on his phone from a female voice that explains the FBI is about to arrest him and he has less than a minute to escape. He ignores the warning and is soon taken into custody. In charge of the investigation is FBI Agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton) and Air Force Office of Special Investigations Special Agent Zoe Perez (Rosario Dawson). After the unknown voice arranges from he to escape Jerry meets up with a single mother, Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan). She was also forced to obey the voice with a threat to kill her son. Together they have to find out just what is happening and why.

There are three ways to obtain this film on disc; DVD, two disc DVD and Blu-ray. There is only a couple of dollars retail difference between the two disc and the Blu-ray so if possible you should consider the high def version. All versions have a set of deleted scenes and a featurette about the locations used in filming. Thanks to the higher capacity of the Blu-ray format all of the second features are on there as well. This is a good flick for a Saturday afternoon but it could have been a lot more.

Disc Two: