Eagle Eye
Encyclopedia
Eagle Eye is a 2008 thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso
and starring Shia LaBeouf
and Michelle Monaghan
. The two portray a young man and a single mother who are brought together and coerced by an anonymous caller into carrying out a plan by a possible terrorist organization. The film was released in regular 35mm theaters and IMAX
theaters.
have a lead on a suspected terrorist in Baluchistan but getting a positive identification, before using a drone aircraft to kill him without harming innocent civilians, proves difficult. The Department of Defense
's computer system recommends that the mission be aborted. The Secretary of Defense (Michael Chiklis
) agrees with the abort recommendation, but the President
orders the mission be carried out anyway. When all of the victims turn out to be civilians, the event blows up on them
and terrorists carry out retaliatory suicide bombings targeting US citizens.
Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf
) is a Stanford University
dropout who lacks direction and faces financial difficulty. He finds out that his more ambitious twin
brother Ethan, an Air Force lieutenant
with expertise in parallel algorithms
and quantum electronics, was killed. Following the funeral in January 2009, he goes to withdraw some money from an ATM
and is surprised to see that he has $751,000 in his account. When he returns home, he finds his apartment filled with a large number of weapons, explosives, and forged documents. He receives a phone call from an unknown woman who explains that the FBI
will apprehend him in thirty seconds and that he must escape.
Not believing her, he is caught by the FBI and sent to an interrogation
room where he meets Special Agent
Tom Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton
). When Morgan leaves the room to meet with Air Force Office of Special Investigations
Special Agent Zoe Pérez (Rosario Dawson
), the unknown woman arranges Jerry's escape over a phone by a crane which hits the building. Jerry escapes and the unknown woman has him join up with single mother Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan
). The unknown woman is coercing Rachel into assisting Jerry by threatening to kill her son, Sam, a trumpet player on his way to Washington, D.C.
by train from Chicago for a band recital.
The woman helps the pair to avoid the Chicago Police and FBI units, demonstrating the ability to remotely control virtually any networked device, such as traffic lights, cell phones, automated cranes, and even electrical wires. While Jerry and Rachel follow her instructions, the woman has other 'agents' (other people whom she has blackmail
ed) create a polymer crystal
explosive made into a necklace and its sound-based trigger placed inside Sam's trumpet. Jerry and Rachel are led from Chicago to Washington, D.C., via Kendall County, Indianapolis
and Dayton, Ohio
through various means. At one point when Jerry refuses to continue, they are directed to a Circuit City electronics store by the woman. Over several television screens she introduces herself to them: she is a top secret supercomputer
, the same one seen in the beginning of the film, called "Autonomous Reconnaissance Intelligence Integration Analyst" (ARIIA) (voiced by Julianne Moore
) and tasked with gathering intelligence from all over the world.
In light of the mistake made by the President which has put more American citizens in danger, ARIIA has decided that the executive branch is a threat to the public good and must be eliminated. ARIIA plans to destroy the President and his cabinet
, and calls this Operation Guillotine
. She has decided to leave the Secretary of Defense—who had agreed with her recommendation to abort the mission—as the successor to the presidency
. ARIIA does not reveal this to Jerry or Rachel, merely explaining that she is trying to help the people of the United States.
At the Pentagon
, Agent Pérez, with the help of Major Bowman (Anthony Mackie
) who works with ARIIA there, discovers that Jerry's late brother, Ethan, worked as a technician for the computer and locked it down to prevent ARIIA from carrying out her plan. Pérez and Major Bowman warn the Secretary of Defense, and they discuss the situation in a sealed room to prevent ARIIA from hearing their conversation. Jerry and Rachel arrive at the Pentagon and are led to the supercomputer, where ARIIA forces Jerry to impersonate Ethan and use his matching biometrics
to override the lockdown, allowing her to go ahead with the plan.
ARIIA shows Jerry a closed-circuit television
footage displaying Ethan's fatal car crash, explaining that she orchestrated his death because he was a threat to her plans. ARIIA then instructs Rachel to eliminate Jerry to prevent the lock from being reinstated, but Rachel cannot bring herself to do it. Rachel is led out of the building by another of ARIIA's coerced agents, while Jerry is allowed to be caught by Agent Morgan. Having been warned by Agent Pérez, Morgan believes Jerry's story and takes him to the United States Capitol
. ARIIA sends a MQ-9 Reaper
UCAV after them. They barely escape the drone's first pass, and Agent Morgan (who's fatally wounded) sacrifices himself to destroy the drone and save Jerry. Meanwhile, Agent Pérez and Major Bowman return to the supercomputer and attempt to destroy it by draining the liquid nitrogen
which cools ARIIA's main processor. ARIIA begins an upload to an off-site auxiliary processor, and Pérez, in desperation, takes a crowbar to the machine, destroying her once and for all.
Rachel is unknowingly given the necklace with the crystal explosive, as well as a pass to the Capitol to hear the President's State of the Union Address
, by the man who helped her escape. During the speech, Sam's class, whose recital has been moved from the Kennedy Center to the Capitol, begins to play. The trigger that will set off the explosive necklace is set to activate when Sam plays a high F
on his trumpet, corresponding to the word "free" in the last stanza of the U.S. national anthem
. Jerry successfully gains entry dressed as a Capitol policeman
and fires his pistol into the air, stopping the performance just before the deadly note. Jerry is then shot several times by Secret Service
agents, who are unaware of the reasons of Jerry's actions.
In a hearing after the chaos ARIIA caused, the Secretary of Defense urges that another ARIIA supercomputer not be built. "Sometimes the very measures we put into place to safeguard our liberty become threats to liberty itself," he cautions them. Ethan posthumously receives the Medal of Honor
and Agent Morgan posthumously receives the Commendation Medal
, while Jerry, injured but alive and well, receives the Congressional Gold Medal for his actions. The film ends with Jerry attending Sam's birthday party. Rachel thanks him for attending, which her ex-husband had never done, and kisses him on the cheek. She tells Jerry that she's glad he's there. He then responds, "Me, too".
's short story "All the Troubles of the World
." The studio DreamWorks
then bought McDermott's script and set up the project to potentially be directed by Spielberg. When the director became busy with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, he dropped out of the project. Director D. J. Caruso
, who directed the 1996 TV series High Incident
under Spielberg's executive production, replaced the director in helming Eagle Eye, with Spielberg remaining as executive producer
. In June 2007, actor LaBeouf who was involved in Spielberg's and Caruso's 2007 film Disturbia
and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, re-joined the director and executive producer to star as the lead in Eagle Eye. McDermott's script was rewritten by screenwriters John Glenn, Travis Wright, and Hillary Seitz in preparation for production. Filming began on November 6, 2007 and wrapped in February 2008. The film's visual effects
were created by Sony Pictures Imageworks
.
Caruso said by the time the film came to fruition twelve years later, "the technology had finally caught up to the storytelling... Everybody has a BlackBerry
on their belt, and we think we're constantly being tracked. It's less science fiction
than when Steven (Spielberg) conceived it." Caruso wanted to bring a gritty, 1970s-era sensibility to the film. Accordingly, a key chase scene in a high-tech package-processing hub on conveyor belt
s was shot without the use of computer-generated imagery
. "It was like Chutes and Ladders
for adults. It was pretty dangerous, and a lot of fun." While filming the scene, Monaghan suffered a welt
after a cable brushed her neck and Caruso hit his head on a protruding bolt, requiring stitches.
, who recorded the score with an 88-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony
at the Sony Scoring Stage. The session was interrupted by the Chino Hills earthquake
on July 29, 2008—and a recording of the quake hitting the scoring stage is online.
type of gameplay system to promote the film. The voice previewed behind the phone in multiple trailers contacts the player, placing them in unique experiences. This has been called the "Eagle Eye Freefall Experience". While official cast listings do not list the name of the actress behind the mysterious voice featured in the film and trailers, Rosario Dawson confirmed at the Hollywood premiere that it belongs to Julianne Moore
.
reported that 27% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 159 reviews, with the consensus that the film is "a preposterously-plotted thriller that borrows heavily from other superior films." Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 43 out of 100, based on 28 reviews—indicating mixed or average reviews.
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
gave Eagle Eye a score of two stars out of four, saying: "The word 'preposterous' is too moderate to describe Eagle Eye. This film contains not a single plausible moment after the opening sequence, and that's borderline. It's not an assault on intelligence. It's an assault on consciousness." James Berardinelli
of ReelViews gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying: "This movie tests the viewing public's tolerance for enduring crass stupidity when the payoff is a series of repetitive, ADD
-infected chase scenes. Director D.J. Caruso does a moderately good job of hiding how incredibly dumb this screenplay is by keeping things moving at such a whirlwind pace that a lot more seems to be happening than actually is. In reality, the chase scenes don't mean anything because they don't advance the plot—it's mice on a treadmill, running and running and not getting anywhere." The Hollywood Reporter
called it a "slick, silly techno thriller" and "Even those who surrender all disbelief at the door will be hard pressed not to smirk at some of wildly improbable plotting."
Josh Rosenblatt of The Austin Chronicle enjoyed the film, calling it "good, manic fun plus a heavy dose of political intrigue adding up to two hours of clamorous, mind-numbing nonsense." Calling it "The Transporter 2 on crack." William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
also gave Eagle Eye a positive review, remarking that it's "engrossing as an intellectual puzzle" and "a solid thriller." Mark Bell of Film Threat
said: "the film isn't a complete waste of your time [...] but don't expect anything brilliant." Neely Tucker of The Washington Post
said that Eagle Eye is "sometimes entertaining" but "doesn't have much to say." Robert Koehler of Variety
felt that the film's "first 35 minutes sizzle" but "the story [becomes] near-parody in the final act."
The next day, it was released nationwide. iTunes
released it a month later as a rental and buy.
based on the film was developed and published by Magmic Games. It was released for BlackBerry
, Windows Mobile
, BREW, and Java ME devices prior to the film's launch in early September. There are also two games on the film's web site.
D. J. Caruso
Daniel John "D.J." Caruso is an American director and producer. Caruso has directed the films Disturbia, Two for the Money, Taking Lives, The Salton Sea, Eagle Eye and I Am Number Four. He has also directed television episodes for shows such as The Shield, Over There, Smallville, and Dark Angel...
and starring Shia LaBeouf
Shia LaBeouf
Shia Saide LaBeouf is an American actor who became known among younger audiences for his part in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens and made his film debut in Holes . In 2007, he starred as the leads in Disturbia and Transformers...
and Michelle Monaghan
Michelle Monaghan
Michelle Lynn Monaghan is an American actress known for her roles in Mission: Impossible III, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Gone Baby Gone, Made of Honor, The Heartbreak Kid, Eagle Eye, and Source Code.-Early life:...
. The two portray a young man and a single mother who are brought together and coerced by an anonymous caller into carrying out a plan by a possible terrorist organization. The film was released in regular 35mm theaters and IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
theaters.
Plot
The United States armed forcesUnited States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
have a lead on a suspected terrorist in Baluchistan but getting a positive identification, before using a drone aircraft to kill him without harming innocent civilians, proves difficult. The Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
's computer system recommends that the mission be aborted. The Secretary of Defense (Michael Chiklis
Michael Chiklis
Michael Charles Chiklis is an American actor, voice actor, occasional director and television producer. Some of the previous roles for which he is best known include Commissioner Tony Scali on the ABC police drama The Commish, LAPD Detective Vic Mackey on the FX police drama The Shield, Thing in...
) agrees with the abort recommendation, but the President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
orders the mission be carried out anyway. When all of the victims turn out to be civilians, the event blows up on them
Blowback (intelligence)
Blowback is the espionage term for the violent, unintended consequences of a covert operation that are suffered by the civil population of the aggressor government...
and terrorists carry out retaliatory suicide bombings targeting US citizens.
Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf
Shia LaBeouf
Shia Saide LaBeouf is an American actor who became known among younger audiences for his part in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens and made his film debut in Holes . In 2007, he starred as the leads in Disturbia and Transformers...
) is a Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
dropout who lacks direction and faces financial difficulty. He finds out that his more ambitious twin
Twin
A twin is one of two offspring produced in the same pregnancy. Twins can either be monozygotic , meaning that they develop from one zygote that splits and forms two embryos, or dizygotic because they develop from two separate eggs that are fertilized by two separate sperm.In contrast, a fetus...
brother Ethan, an Air Force lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
with expertise in parallel algorithms
Parallel computing
Parallel computing is a form of computation in which many calculations are carried out simultaneously, operating on the principle that large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which are then solved concurrently . There are several different forms of parallel computing: bit-level,...
and quantum electronics, was killed. Following the funeral in January 2009, he goes to withdraw some money from an ATM
Automated teller machine
An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...
and is surprised to see that he has $751,000 in his account. When he returns home, he finds his apartment filled with a large number of weapons, explosives, and forged documents. He receives a phone call from an unknown woman who explains that the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
will apprehend him in thirty seconds and that he must escape.
Not believing her, he is caught by the FBI and sent to an interrogation
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
room where he meets Special Agent
Special agent
Special agent is usually the title for a detective or investigator for a state, county, municipal, federal or tribal government. An agent is a worker for any federal agency, and a secret agent is one who works for an intelligence agency....
Tom Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton is an American actor, screenwriter, director and musician. Thornton gained early recognition as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire and in several early 1990s films including On Deadly Ground and Tombstone...
). When Morgan leaves the room to meet with Air Force Office of Special Investigations
Air Force Office of Special Investigations
The Air Force Office of Special Investigations , is a Field Operating Agency of the United States Air Force that provides professional investigative services to commanders throughout the Air Force...
Special Agent Zoe Pérez (Rosario Dawson
Rosario Dawson
Rosario Isabel Dawson is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Unstoppable.-Early...
), the unknown woman arranges Jerry's escape over a phone by a crane which hits the building. Jerry escapes and the unknown woman has him join up with single mother Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan
Michelle Monaghan
Michelle Lynn Monaghan is an American actress known for her roles in Mission: Impossible III, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Gone Baby Gone, Made of Honor, The Heartbreak Kid, Eagle Eye, and Source Code.-Early life:...
). The unknown woman is coercing Rachel into assisting Jerry by threatening to kill her son, Sam, a trumpet player on his way to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
by train from Chicago for a band recital.
The woman helps the pair to avoid the Chicago Police and FBI units, demonstrating the ability to remotely control virtually any networked device, such as traffic lights, cell phones, automated cranes, and even electrical wires. While Jerry and Rachel follow her instructions, the woman has other 'agents' (other people whom she has blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
ed) create a polymer crystal
Crystal
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...
explosive made into a necklace and its sound-based trigger placed inside Sam's trumpet. Jerry and Rachel are led from Chicago to Washington, D.C., via Kendall County, Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
and Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
through various means. At one point when Jerry refuses to continue, they are directed to a Circuit City electronics store by the woman. Over several television screens she introduces herself to them: she is a top secret supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
, the same one seen in the beginning of the film, called "Autonomous Reconnaissance Intelligence Integration Analyst" (ARIIA) (voiced by Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
) and tasked with gathering intelligence from all over the world.
In light of the mistake made by the President which has put more American citizens in danger, ARIIA has decided that the executive branch is a threat to the public good and must be eliminated. ARIIA plans to destroy the President and his cabinet
United States Cabinet
The Cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, which are generally the heads of the federal executive departments...
, and calls this Operation Guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
. She has decided to leave the Secretary of Defense—who had agreed with her recommendation to abort the mission—as the successor to the presidency
Designated survivor
A designated survivor is a member of the United States Cabinet who is appointed to be at a physically distant, secure, and undisclosed location when the president and the country's other top leaders are gathered at a single location, such as during State of the Union addresses and presidential...
. ARIIA does not reveal this to Jerry or Rachel, merely explaining that she is trying to help the people of the United States.
At the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
, Agent Pérez, with the help of Major Bowman (Anthony Mackie
Anthony Mackie
Anthony Mackie is an American actor. He has been featured in feature films, television series and Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Drowning Crow, McReele, A Soldier's Play, and Talk, by Carl Hancock Rux, for which he won an Obie Award in 2002.In 2002 he featured...
) who works with ARIIA there, discovers that Jerry's late brother, Ethan, worked as a technician for the computer and locked it down to prevent ARIIA from carrying out her plan. Pérez and Major Bowman warn the Secretary of Defense, and they discuss the situation in a sealed room to prevent ARIIA from hearing their conversation. Jerry and Rachel arrive at the Pentagon and are led to the supercomputer, where ARIIA forces Jerry to impersonate Ethan and use his matching biometrics
Biometrics
Biometrics As Jain & Ross point out, "the term biometric authentication is perhaps more appropriate than biometrics since the latter has been historically used in the field of statistics to refer to the analysis of biological data [36]" . consists of methods...
to override the lockdown, allowing her to go ahead with the plan.
ARIIA shows Jerry a closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
footage displaying Ethan's fatal car crash, explaining that she orchestrated his death because he was a threat to her plans. ARIIA then instructs Rachel to eliminate Jerry to prevent the lock from being reinstated, but Rachel cannot bring herself to do it. Rachel is led out of the building by another of ARIIA's coerced agents, while Jerry is allowed to be caught by Agent Morgan. Having been warned by Agent Pérez, Morgan believes Jerry's story and takes him to the United States Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
. ARIIA sends a MQ-9 Reaper
MQ-9 Reaper
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial vehicle , capable of remote controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems for use by the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, the CIA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Royal...
UCAV after them. They barely escape the drone's first pass, and Agent Morgan (who's fatally wounded) sacrifices himself to destroy the drone and save Jerry. Meanwhile, Agent Pérez and Major Bowman return to the supercomputer and attempt to destroy it by draining the liquid nitrogen
Liquid nitrogen
Liquid nitrogen is nitrogen in a liquid state at a very low temperature. It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. Liquid nitrogen is a colourless clear liquid with density of 0.807 g/mL at its boiling point and a dielectric constant of 1.4...
which cools ARIIA's main processor. ARIIA begins an upload to an off-site auxiliary processor, and Pérez, in desperation, takes a crowbar to the machine, destroying her once and for all.
Rachel is unknowingly given the necklace with the crystal explosive, as well as a pass to the Capitol to hear the President's State of the Union Address
State of the Union Address
The State of the Union is an annual address presented by the President of the United States to the United States Congress. The address not only reports on the condition of the nation but also allows the president to outline his legislative agenda and his national priorities.The practice arises...
, by the man who helped her escape. During the speech, Sam's class, whose recital has been moved from the Kennedy Center to the Capitol, begins to play. The trigger that will set off the explosive necklace is set to activate when Sam plays a high F
F (musical note)
F is a musical note, the fourth above C. It is also known as fa in fixed-do solfège.When calculated in equal temperament with a reference of A above middle C as 440 Hz, the frequency of Middle F is approximately 349.228 Hz. See pitch for a discussion of historical variations in...
on his trumpet, corresponding to the word "free" in the last stanza of the U.S. national anthem
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
. Jerry successfully gains entry dressed as a Capitol policeman
United States Capitol Police
The United States Capitol Police is a federal police force charged with protecting the United States Congress within the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its territories.-History:...
and fires his pistol into the air, stopping the performance just before the deadly note. Jerry is then shot several times by Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
agents, who are unaware of the reasons of Jerry's actions.
In a hearing after the chaos ARIIA caused, the Secretary of Defense urges that another ARIIA supercomputer not be built. "Sometimes the very measures we put into place to safeguard our liberty become threats to liberty itself," he cautions them. Ethan posthumously receives the Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
and Agent Morgan posthumously receives the Commendation Medal
Commendation Medal
The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration which is presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. For valorous actions in direct contact with an enemy force, but of a lesser degree than required for the award of the Bronze Star, the Valor device may...
, while Jerry, injured but alive and well, receives the Congressional Gold Medal for his actions. The film ends with Jerry attending Sam's birthday party. Rachel thanks him for attending, which her ex-husband had never done, and kisses him on the cheek. She tells Jerry that she's glad he's there. He then responds, "Me, too".
Cast
- Shia LaBeoufShia LaBeoufShia Saide LaBeouf is an American actor who became known among younger audiences for his part in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens and made his film debut in Holes . In 2007, he starred as the leads in Disturbia and Transformers...
as Jerry Shaw, and his deceased twin brother Ethan Shaw. - Michelle MonaghanMichelle MonaghanMichelle Lynn Monaghan is an American actress known for her roles in Mission: Impossible III, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Gone Baby Gone, Made of Honor, The Heartbreak Kid, Eagle Eye, and Source Code.-Early life:...
as Rachel Holloman, a woman who helps Jerry stop ARIIA. - Rosario DawsonRosario DawsonRosario Isabel Dawson is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Unstoppable.-Early...
as Zoë Perez, Air Force Office of Special InvestigationsAir Force Office of Special InvestigationsThe Air Force Office of Special Investigations , is a Field Operating Agency of the United States Air Force that provides professional investigative services to commanders throughout the Air Force...
(OSI) Agent. - Michael ChiklisMichael ChiklisMichael Charles Chiklis is an American actor, voice actor, occasional director and television producer. Some of the previous roles for which he is best known include Commissioner Tony Scali on the ABC police drama The Commish, LAPD Detective Vic Mackey on the FX police drama The Shield, Thing in...
as George Callister, the US Secretary of Defense. - Anthony MackieAnthony MackieAnthony Mackie is an American actor. He has been featured in feature films, television series and Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Drowning Crow, McReele, A Soldier's Play, and Talk, by Carl Hancock Rux, for which he won an Obie Award in 2002.In 2002 he featured...
as Major William Bowman - Ethan EmbryEthan EmbryEthan Philan Randall , although he is known and usually credited as Ethan Embry, is an American film and television actor. He is known for his role as Declan Giggs on the Showtime television series Brotherhood.-Personal life:...
as Toby Grant, FBI. - Billy Bob ThorntonBilly Bob ThorntonBilly Bob Thornton is an American actor, screenwriter, director and musician. Thornton gained early recognition as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire and in several early 1990s films including On Deadly Ground and Tombstone...
as Tom Morgan, FBI. - Anthony AziziAnthony AziziAnthony Azizi is an American television actor.Born in New York City of Iranian descent, Azizi is mainly known for his television work. He has had recurring roles on 24 as terrorist Mamud Faheen , on 24 as Rafique and on Commander in Chief as presidential aide Vince Taylor...
as Ranim Khalid - Julianne MooreJulianne MooreJulianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
as the voice of the super computer ARIIA aka the "unknown woman". - Cameron Boyce as Sam Holloman, Rachel's son.
Production
Screenwriter Dan McDermott wrote the original script for Eagle Eye based on an idea by Mr. Aviles who had been inspired by Isaac AsimovIsaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
's short story "All the Troubles of the World
All the Troubles of the World
"All the Troubles of the World" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the April 1958 issue of Super-Science Fiction, and was reprinted in the 1959 collection Nine Tomorrows...
." The studio DreamWorks
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
then bought McDermott's script and set up the project to potentially be directed by Spielberg. When the director became busy with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, he dropped out of the project. Director D. J. Caruso
D. J. Caruso
Daniel John "D.J." Caruso is an American director and producer. Caruso has directed the films Disturbia, Two for the Money, Taking Lives, The Salton Sea, Eagle Eye and I Am Number Four. He has also directed television episodes for shows such as The Shield, Over There, Smallville, and Dark Angel...
, who directed the 1996 TV series High Incident
High Incident
High Incident is a police drama series produced by DreamWorks Television for the ABC network. The show was created by Steven Spielberg, Michael Pavone, Eric Bogosian and Dave Alan Johnson...
under Spielberg's executive production, replaced the director in helming Eagle Eye, with Spielberg remaining as executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
. In June 2007, actor LaBeouf who was involved in Spielberg's and Caruso's 2007 film Disturbia
Disturbia (film)
Disturbia is a 2007 American thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso and executive produced by Ivan Reitman. It is an updated version of Alfred Hitchcock's classic film Rear Window...
and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, re-joined the director and executive producer to star as the lead in Eagle Eye. McDermott's script was rewritten by screenwriters John Glenn, Travis Wright, and Hillary Seitz in preparation for production. Filming began on November 6, 2007 and wrapped in February 2008. The film's visual effects
Visual effects
Visual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
were created by Sony Pictures Imageworks
Sony Pictures Imageworks
Sony Pictures Imageworks, Inc. is a visual effects and character animation company headquartered in Culver City, California, USA. SPI is a division of Sony Pictures Digital Productions, which oversees the digital production and online entertainment assets of Sony Pictures Entertainment.The company...
.
Caruso said by the time the film came to fruition twelve years later, "the technology had finally caught up to the storytelling... Everybody has a BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...
on their belt, and we think we're constantly being tracked. It's less science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
than when Steven (Spielberg) conceived it." Caruso wanted to bring a gritty, 1970s-era sensibility to the film. Accordingly, a key chase scene in a high-tech package-processing hub on conveyor belt
Conveyor belt
A conveyor belt consists of two or more pulleys, with a continuous loop of material - the conveyor belt - that rotates about them. One or both of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forward. The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley...
s was shot without the use of computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
. "It was like Chutes and Ladders
Snakes and ladders
Snakes and Ladders is an ancient Indian board game regarded today as a worldwide classic. It is played between two or more players on a game board having numbered, gridded squares. A number of "ladders" and "snakes" are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares...
for adults. It was pretty dangerous, and a lot of fun." While filming the scene, Monaghan suffered a welt
Wheal
Wheal may refer to:*Wheal response, a cutaneous condition left by a blow or as part of an allergic reaction*Wheal, a Cornish mine...
after a cable brushed her neck and Caruso hit his head on a protruding bolt, requiring stitches.
Music
The music to Eagle Eye was written by composer Brian TylerBrian Tyler (composer)
Brian Tyler is an American composer, producer, conductor, and film producer most known for his scores of Eagle Eye, The Expendables, Battle: Los Angeles, The Final Destination, Rambo, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Final Destination 5. Tyler is a symphonic conductor and conducts his own scores....
, who recorded the score with an 88-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony
Hollywood Studio Symphony
The Hollywood Studio Symphony is the credited name of the symphony orchestra behind many major soundtracks, including The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Sucker Punch, Jurassic Park 3, Last Samurai, Pirates of the Caribbean, We Are Marshall, Spider-Man 2, Lost and The...
at the Sony Scoring Stage. The session was interrupted by the Chino Hills earthquake
2008 Chino Hills earthquake
The 2008 Chino Hills earthquake occurred at 11:42:15 a.m. PDT on July 29, 2008, in Southern California. The epicenter of the magnitude 5.5 earthquake was in Chino Hills, approximately east-southeast of downtown Los Angeles....
on July 29, 2008—and a recording of the quake hitting the scoring stage is online.
Promotion
The official movie website features an ARGAlternate reality game
An alternate reality game is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....
type of gameplay system to promote the film. The voice previewed behind the phone in multiple trailers contacts the player, placing them in unique experiences. This has been called the "Eagle Eye Freefall Experience". While official cast listings do not list the name of the actress behind the mysterious voice featured in the film and trailers, Rosario Dawson confirmed at the Hollywood premiere that it belongs to Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
.
Critical reception
Eagle Eye received negative reviews from critics (with some being overwhelmingly so), primarily for its implausible storyline. As of November 29, 2008, the review aggregation site Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 27% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 159 reviews, with the consensus that the film is "a preposterously-plotted thriller that borrows heavily from other superior films." Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 43 out of 100, based on 28 reviews—indicating mixed or average reviews.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
gave Eagle Eye a score of two stars out of four, saying: "The word 'preposterous' is too moderate to describe Eagle Eye. This film contains not a single plausible moment after the opening sequence, and that's borderline. It's not an assault on intelligence. It's an assault on consciousness." James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
of ReelViews gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying: "This movie tests the viewing public's tolerance for enduring crass stupidity when the payoff is a series of repetitive, ADD
ADD
* A.D.D. , a song on System of a Down's album Steal This Album!* A.D.D. , the first studio album by Blake Lewis, the runner-up on the sixth season of American Idol...
-infected chase scenes. Director D.J. Caruso does a moderately good job of hiding how incredibly dumb this screenplay is by keeping things moving at such a whirlwind pace that a lot more seems to be happening than actually is. In reality, the chase scenes don't mean anything because they don't advance the plot—it's mice on a treadmill, running and running and not getting anywhere." The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
called it a "slick, silly techno thriller" and "Even those who surrender all disbelief at the door will be hard pressed not to smirk at some of wildly improbable plotting."
Josh Rosenblatt of The Austin Chronicle enjoyed the film, calling it "good, manic fun plus a heavy dose of political intrigue adding up to two hours of clamorous, mind-numbing nonsense." Calling it "The Transporter 2 on crack." William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
also gave Eagle Eye a positive review, remarking that it's "engrossing as an intellectual puzzle" and "a solid thriller." Mark Bell of Film Threat
Film Threat
Film Threat is a former print magazine and, now, webzine which focuses primarily on independent film, although it also reviews DVDs of mainstream films and Hollywood movies in theaters. It first appeared as a photocopied zine in 1985, created by Wayne State University students Chris Gore and André...
said: "the film isn't a complete waste of your time [...] but don't expect anything brilliant." Neely Tucker of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
said that Eagle Eye is "sometimes entertaining" but "doesn't have much to say." Robert Koehler of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
felt that the film's "first 35 minutes sizzle" but "the story [becomes] near-parody in the final act."
Box office
In its opening weekend, Eagle Eye grossed $29.1 million in 3,510 theaters in the United States and Canada, reaching the first place position at the box office. As of February 15, 2009, it has grossed $178,066,569 worldwide—$101.4 million in the United States and Canada and $76.6 million in other territories. The budget of the film was $80 million.Home media
Eagle Eye was released on DVD and Blu-ray only in select stores on December 26, 2008, exactly three months after its theatrical release, September 26, 2008. In the first week on the DVD sales chart, Eagle Eye sold 182,592 units which translated to $3.3m in revenue. In the second week, however, sales rose tremendously to 1,044,682 for that week, opening at #1 and acquiring revenue of $18,862,151 for that week. As per the latest figures, 2,181,959 units have been sold, bringing in $38,008,436 in revenue. This does not include Blu-ray sales/DVD rentals.The next day, it was released nationwide. iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
released it a month later as a rental and buy.
Mobile game
A mobile gameMobile game
A mobile game is a video game played on a mobile phone, smartphone, PDA, tablet computer or portable media player. This does not include games played on handheld video game systems such as Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable....
based on the film was developed and published by Magmic Games. It was released for BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...
, Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
, BREW, and Java ME devices prior to the film's launch in early September. There are also two games on the film's web site.