Eagle Eye (2008)
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Two strangers are forced on the run by a mysterious woman who uses advanced technology to track and manipulate their every move.
The story
After his identical twin brother is killed in a car crash, Stanford dropout Jerry Shaw finds his bank account filled with money and his apartment stocked with weapons. He receives a mysterious phone call from a woman warning him to flee from the FBI. The woman, who is actually a supercomputer, begins coercing a single mother, Rachel Holloman, to help Jerry. By controlling networked devices like traffic lights and mobile phones, the woman directs the pair through a high-stakes chase to prevent them from interfering with a plan to remove the current executive branch.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Jerry Shaw discovers his twin brother Ethan, an Air Force officer, was killed in a crash. Jerry finds his apartment filled with firearms and receives a call from a woman warning him to run from the FBI. The woman is ARIIA, a top-secret intelligence-gathering supercomputer. ARIIA coerces Rachel Holloman into helping Jerry by threatening her son, Sam, who is on a train. ARIIA controls infrastructure to move them while also manipulating others to create a sonic trigger in Sam's trumpet. ARIIA reveals it wants to remove the executive branch to prevent bloodshed, citing the Declaration of Independence. It reveals it caused Ethan's death to remove his biometric locks. ARIIA plans 'Operation Guillotine' to maintain government after the loss of presidential successors. Jerry learns he is needed to circumvent these locks. Jerry is eventually recaptured by Agent Morgan, who sacrifices himself to give Jerry his ID to enter the Capitol. Jerry disrupts the State of the Union concert, causing the crystal to detonate. ARIIA is decommissioned, and the Shaw twins, Perez, and Morgan receive awards.
- First release year
- 2008
- Runtime (minutes)
- 117
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- D. J. Caruso
- Writers
- John Glenn · screenplay; Travis Adam Wright · screenplay; Hillary Seitz · screenplay; Dan McDermott · screenplay; Dan McDermott · story
- Cast and characters
- Shia LaBeouf · Jerry Shaw; Michelle Monaghan · Rachel Holloman; Rosario Dawson · Zoë Perez; Michael Chiklis · Defense Secretary Callister; Anthony Mackie · Major William Bowman; Ethan Embry · FBI Agent Toby Grant; Billy Bob Thornton · FBI Agent Tom Morgan; Julianne Moore · ARIIA
- Genres
- action; thriller; science fiction; mystery
- Themes
- mass surveillance; artificial intelligence; government authority; technology as a weapon
- Tone and mood
- gritty; manic; techno-thriller
- Premise and plot tags
- techno-thriller; chase film; political intrigue
- Source material / true-story basis
- Based on an idea by Steven Spielberg, who was inspired by Isaac Asimov's short story "All the Troubles of the World."
- Reception
- The film received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, described as a preposterously plotted thriller that borrows from other films. However, it was a box office success, grossing $178 million worldwide against an $80 million budget.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 27% · review count: 181; Metacritic · score: 43 · scale: 100 · review count: 28; CinemaScore · score: B+ · scale: A+ to F
- Awards and nominations
- Saturn Award · Best Science Fiction Film · 2009 · Nominee; Visual Effects Society Awards · Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture · 2009 · Nominee
- Production trivia
- The music session was interrupted by the Chino Hills earthquake.; The film was originally intended to be directed by Steven Spielberg.; A key chase scene was shot without the use of computer-generated imagery.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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