9/24/08

Eagle Eye

Whew! That was exhausting...and exciting...and exhausting...

Shia LeBeouf ("Disturbia," "Transporters" and "Indiana Jones...Crystal Skull") is the surviving twin from a mismatched pair; one twin -- now deceased -- was highly motivated and ambitious, while LeBeouf's is not. We see him winning at cards in the back room of his place of employment, a copy mart, then trying to elude his landlady because his rent is overdue.

Michelle Monaghan ("Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang," "Gone, Baby, Gone" and "Made of Honor") is a single mother, proudly sending her son off for a trip to Washington, D.C., where he will play trumpet in a grade school band which will be entertaining the President of the United States and a joint session of Congress.

Each is inexplicably thrown into a high-speed, death-defying flight from Homeland Security, the FBI, the CIA and what seemed to be every law enforcement officer on the East Coast. They end up fleeing together, blindly following instructions from an all-seeing, all-knowing series of electronic messages displayed on cell phones, reader boards, traffic signs and numerous other unlikely sources. The action becomes almost comical because it is so clearly over the top, but the two stars are so frantic and decent that you can't help but root for them. I really enjoyed their rough and tumble odyssey through the luggage system at the airport. I have always wondered what that place looked like.

Their primary (FBI) nemesis is played by Billy Bob Thornton ("Love, Actually," "Friday Night Lights" and "The Ice Harvest"), ably assisted by his earnest sidekick, Ethan Embry ("Sweet Home, Alabama," "Timeline" and "Vacancy"). These two guys may not have all the good lines, but it sure seems like it...Thornton in particular!

Rosario Dawson ("Shattered Glass," "Rent" and "Grindhouse"), Anthony Mackie ("Million Dollar Baby," "Half Nelson" and "We Are Marshall") and Michael Chiklis ("Fantastic Four" and lots of television work) are also featured players.

This is a high-tech espionage thriller with lots of blowie uppie stuff, very paranoid, very cartoonlike and very illogical .....but lots of fun...and exhausting...