| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 10/20/2008 : 11:20:11
Eagle Eye
I'd like to think that if Exec Prod Spielberg had found a way to be more hands on with this turkey it might have hatched instead into a true cine-eagle. Because buried somewhere in the core is a fascinating idea. OK the idea ain't exactly original and we all probably first became aware of it in 2001, a film by one of Spielberg's heros.
The idea is that in an ever-sophiticated digital world, could there come a time when the vast computerized network gains so much intuitive power and so much global connectivity that it begins to control us, to manipulate us into fulfilling what it perceives as its superior will.
HAL, the onboard computer of 2001 showed us a microcosm of the problem as it attempts to murder astronaut Dave Bowman for the good of the mission. Interestingly, the super-computer in Eagle Eye is managed by high-level military engineer Major William Bowman. Such things are never coincidences - well, not for Spielberg films, they're not.
So in-joke refs aside, why has this perfectly decent starting point led into such an inconsequential swampland of dreck. Well, first of all, the direction by default is in the hands of Mr Action DJ Caruso. True, after many blow-em-up tv episodes he nudged Shia LaBeouf through the tensions of Disturbia, but Eagle Eye has him virtually auditioning for a promo for Explosions-R-Us. His shot choices are never innovative, a clue to his style. In yer face. Bam. Boom. Telegraph-punch -- ker-pow! Dialogue doesn't matter. Nor does anything resembling characterization, let alone the development of relationships.
The whole film feels like a blow-em-up vid game. I'll bet they're printing the disc-cases as we speak.
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| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 10/23/2008 : 16:16:45
Yeah, but to be fair that's a car that the computer has provided them with, so it could choose a computer-controlled model, as is no doubt available from every rental place!  |
| MisterBadIdea |
Posted - 10/23/2008 : 16:03:36
Fun fact: Computers can't actually decipher speech based on the sound ripples they create in a cup of coffee.
One of the film's better moments, I thought, was when Thornton was finally able to get footage of LaBeouf because it was on a convenience store security-cam which wasn't on any network. Not a particularly good scene, but my expectations were so low at that point that I didn't think the movie would actually remember that not everything is on a network. I mean, Christ, the computer drives their car for them at one point. |
| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 10/21/2008 : 02:06:44
Yes, even while I was enjoying the film reasonably well, I could not avoid acknowledging how derivative it was. The computer may as well be called GAL. (Ooh, that reminds me of a review I was going to submit. The computer's actual name is Aria -- or ARIA, I guess -- the same as my cat, who is just as infuriatingly stubborn, as loved as she is.)
However, I did like the fact that the default option (of GAL insisting on any military action she could think of that might slightly possibly protect the United States) was avoided. Although the film doesn't explore the issue, it's interesting that it might actually have been preferable for her to be successful.
The most annoying thing was the biological recognition idea. First of all, they would have thought of the issue of identical twins or any other source of the genetic material/bodily shape etc. Second of all, they would use at least all the readily tested biological markers (if not also others such as a blood test), e.g. an iris scan and, oh, fingerprints -- the latter of which are not shared by identical twins! |
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