Eye carumba

There's a handful of movies at the budget theater that I need to see, so I decided to catch one last night before the semester began, that being the latest Shia LaBeouf film, Eagle Eye.

Now anyone that knows me knows that I have never been fond of Shia since his rise to superstardom. The dislike for him began mostly out of spite, but as I continue to see more and more of his films, I feel that my criticisms are actually valid. Watching him here, I am beginning to see a pattern in his films where he is falling into what I call Tom Cruise syndrome. This is where the lead actor's character in a film acts like a complete douchebag the entire time, yet we as the audience are supposed to root for him because he's the protagonist. In this case, LaBeouf plays Jerry Shaw, who is an unmotivated, selfish jerk. I sat through the entire movie wondering why I should care whether he lives or dies. And of course, I don't think I'm giving much away by saying that of course he lives and also gets the girl; which was particularly frustrating because the female lead in this case (played by Michelle Monaghan) kept boasting how she had swore off men because her ex-husband was unmotivated and selfish, yet she falls for Jerry, who seemingly has the same qualities.

To be fair, most of these criticisms are about the character and not Shia himself. His acting isn't bad (it's not great either though), it's just that he never seems to play likeable characters. So really the fault lies with the writers for not making a more compelling character. Although, you could say that Shia is somewhat to blame for continuing to choose these characters.

OK enough ranting about Shia, let's get to the plot of the film, which is a doozy. If you saw the commercials, then you know that there is a mysterious person who is constantly calling Jerry and telling him what to do, all the while controlling all of the technology around him in order for him to complete the tasks set out for him. This is all about the concept of Big Brother and our love affair with all things technological. But don't be confused into thinking that this is some insightful commentary on Orwell's theories. This is a mindless action thriller that used the Big Brother idea as window dressing to string along a series of action sequences.

By the time it's revealed who (or what) is calling Jerry and controlling everything, you'll be too busy laughing to think of any deep philosophical implications about our reliance on technology. Sadly, things continue to become more elaborate and ludicrous from that point. What makes all of this even worse is the fact that it seemed like a lot of it could have been prevented a lot sooner than it was. The movie basically plays like an episode of Three's Company on steroids. Nobody actually communicates with each other or stops for a second to think rationally about what's going on and come up with an explanation for it in order to stop everything. The fact that Jerry continues to obey the phone caller and run from the government is mind-boggling.

For as dumb as the plot is, the action sequences that it does string together are pretty exciting. If your measure of a film is based solely on car chases and explosions, then chances are you'll probably really like this film. Even though this came out in September, the quality of the action here is equal to that of any summer blockbuster, which is probably why this did fairly well at the box office. As for me, while I do enjoy good action scenes, I need something a little bit more substanitive in my movies in order for me to recommend them.

If I were to point out one highlight in the film, it would have to be the performance by Billy Bob Thornton, who plays government agent Thomas Morgan. He's about the only one who shows any life in the film. He easily has the best lines in the film and seems to enjoy acting like a big shot, especially when he's interrogating Jerry. While his character was meant to be more antagonistic, I found myself rooting for him moreso than for anyone else. It's a shame he wasn't in the film more, because about the only time I really cared what was going on was during his scenes.

I feel sorry for those who paid top dollar to see this in the theaters, but as a rental it's probably not that bad of a choice. The action scenes will look and sound good in your home theater and you can just shut your mind off and enjoy some mindless entertainment for a couple of hours. Eagle Eye certainly isn't for the intellectual crowd, but it does serve a purpose. Now if only Shia could find a different purpose in life. I keed, I keed. Grade: C