What do you get when you have an intelligent young man with a lack of motivation, a single young mother, and a genius twin brother with ties to the government, and throw them in a blender under the watchful eye of an anonymous woman?
You get "Eagle Eye," a gritty, no-holds-bar action packed thriller served up by director D.J. Caruso and writers John Glenn and Travis Wright that presents its audience with the observable question: what if you were being watched?
Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan star as Jerry Shaw and Rachel Holloman, two strangers who seemingly cross paths under the cautious and concentrated directions of a mysterious female's voice. In the opening scene, U.S. intelligence is watching live video surveillance of terrorists who appear to be attending a funeral.
With a high profile suspect in their sights, the Secretary of Defense -- played by Michael Chiklis -- has to make the decision to eradicate the target based on a 51 percent probability claim by ARIA, a super computer with the task of gathering intelligence from all over the world.
However, after ARIA warns that there's a good chance that the surveyed terrorists might not be the guy they want, the Secretary of Defense is hesitant to go ahead with the planned assassination and calls the president to get the approval for the proposed bombing. The president approves the bombing and the suspect is taken out. And thus the chase begins.
After the sudden death and funeral of Jerry's twin brother, Ethan, Jerry goes to his bank and finds $751 million inexplicably deposited into his account. He rushes home to find that his apartment has been packed with weapons, bombs and forged documents. His phone rings and a woman's voice commands him to leave his apartment right away because the FBI is going to capture him in a few seconds.
Not realizing the urgency of the woman's request, federal agents storm inside and apprehend Shaw. After innumerable attempts to declare his innocence, Shaw is immediately thought to be a terrorist by the bureau.
Rounding out this film's cast are supporting roles by Billy Bob Thorton who plays Thomas Morgan, a security agent who's been assigned to investigate the potential terrorist threat posed by Shaw, and Rosario Dawson who plays Air Force agent Zoë Perez.
While in a holding room, Shaw receives another phone call from the unknown woman and she tells him to get down in four seconds. Hesitant to do so, Shaw barely avoids decapitation as a building crane smashes through the building, leaving a gapping hole for Shaw to escape from. He jumps from the opening, lands on a metal roof and tumbles to the floor.
Numerous instructions put him in the car with a frantic Holloman, and the pair at that point is thrust through exhilarating car chases and death defying circumstances. The two manage to allude capture by FBI agents.
With an ulterior motive in the process throughout this movie, the underlying story is a plot to make some heavy reinforcements within the government system, with the help of Shaw, Holloman, ARIA, and Holloman's son, Sam.
Standout performances are attributed to LeBeouf and Monaghan, with the overall production helmed by Caruso definitely making this movie a winner.
So the next time your phone rings, be careful when you answer it because it just might be a woman's voice that's going to suddenly put your life at risk with the words, "You have 30 seconds."
3 out of 4 stars
Summary: An unknown woman's voice leads an ordinary young man to defy death and escape authorities all to clear his "terrorist" name.
Our take: A blistering and exhilarating thrill ride that will satisfy movie buffs within the action, thriller, and sci-fi genre.
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