EAGLE EYEnemy of the state!

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Well director DJ Caruso has learned the hard way that the source of such imitation isn't always thrilled to have their product/property 'referenced. Caruso's last film (also starring up-and-coming superstar Shia LaBeouf), DISTURBIA, has recently been attacked for the filmmaking equivalent of plagiarism - being sued by the intellectual property owners of the short story that Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window was based on. DISTURBIA was in many ways an update to the Hitchcock classic, borrowing heavily from the premise to the story, but never trying to pass itself off as a remake or 'reimagining' of the original. No, Caruso held strong in his claims that he was simply 'inspired by' the films that came before. EAGLE EYE is cut from the same cloth, but it shouldn't see any lawsuits this time around. No, this time Caruso's 'inspiration' from ENEMY OF THE STATEand LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD should come across as nothing more than the solid generic filmmaking that it is. And while this film is very generic, it's also fun. Really fun at parts. The action scenes are well made, it would have made an excellent summer popcorn flick that could have been dropped into one of the dead weeks that THE DARK KNIGHT ate up. That's not to say that it doesn't have its ridiculous, unbelievable elements that every cybercrime movie seems to have. Stealing a scene straight from ENEMY OF THE STATE, and right out of Jack Black's legacy, the FBI uses Big Brother's ubiquitous security camera to pick up a small, grainy shot of our heroes inside a bus. The lo-res analog video is, of course, able to be 'enhanced' so that the government's targets can be seen clearly... one of them in a reflection that becomes visibile in a previously black portion of the video. Oh, how the capabilities of real-time analog video restoration have improved since... well... they haven't. Oh well, it's not like we expect science-fact from the mind of Steven Spielberg, right? Spielberg came up with the concept for this flick a few years ago and decided to produce rather than direct. That was probably a good idea as it gave Caruso a chance to make another high profile film while saving Spielberg from being firmly attached to another less-than-perfect sci-fi flick this year. Some people may disagree, though, as the low points of EAGLE EYE are a bit more tolerable than those of INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. Shia LaBeouf is a star. He's funny, he's got great rhythm, he's an odd looking dude and he's friends with Steven Spielberg, so we'll see him for years and years to come. Especially if his movies keep making $300M each (Eagle Eye won't, I promise). If you don't like the guy you'll want to stay away from this movie since he pulls double duty. Michelle Monaghan is the real scene stealer here, she's great in her worried mother role and keeps up with the fast pace, developing her nerves as the story thickens. Speaking of Monaghan, her involvement in KISS KISS BANG BANG made the ending to the movie a bit more enjoyable (for me, at least). The ending to KKBB has a nice bit about brining people back at the end of movies when they should have been dead. Let's just say that EAGLE EYE didn't read the memo about how that tactic is seen as laughable these days. Not as laughable as cradle-robbing hookups, though. If you like your popcorn whether it's summer or not then you'll enjoy this one. If you'd rather stay home this weekend then just rent ENEMY OF THE STATE and LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD.. you'll still be able to talk about Eagle Eye with other people that caught it. This review was contributed to OWF by The Tucson Filmmaker, Mr. Phillip Lybrand.