Eagle Eye (Spoilers!!!)

[Trekker4747]

Anyone see this movie this past weekend? I saw it this afternoon.

Decent enough movie, I suppose. I liked it. Had a good plot and a surprise or two in it. (Shia LeBouf fights Skynet!) It reminded me of "Enemy of the State" to the power of 10.


But, in the end, I found myself kind of wanting the heroes to fail. I dunno, I guess the computer system had a point.

 

[Smiley]

It was okay as a thriller, but it was extremely difficult to suspend my disbelief. The US will not be networked to that degree in 2009, there would be more failsafes, there is no way an AI like that would just spontaneously appear and take control, etc.

I also had a big quibble with the ending. If there is a guy threatening to kill the president and his staff, the Secret Service is going to shoot to kill. Jerry would not have survived, which would have made for a more powerful ending in my book.

I did like the acting and dialogue quite a bit, but I would not recommend this to people. 2.5/5 stars

 

[DRADIS]

I'd give it a 7.5/10.

I saw it on Friday in IMAX which might have boosted my opinion of the movie. But overall it was a fun action thriller with a little bit of sci fi. Some of it was way over the top but that didn't detract from the film too much.

It reminded me of I Robot, Live Free or Die Hard, and Enemy of the State. It was better than all three of those movies imo though.

Go see it in IMAX if you can.

 

[Trekker4747]

I also had a big quibble with the ending. If there is a guy threatening to kill the president and his staff, the Secret Service is going to shoot to kill. Jerry would not have survived, which would have made for a more powerful ending in my book.

Yeah, I agree. It's possible Jerry had donned the officer's flack jacket which is what saved him. And agents and officers don't shoot to kill they shoot for centermass which is protected by a flack-jacket.

But, yeah, Jerry dying would've made a better ending and such a power AI and computer system wouldn't be given that much power without someone having to click "OK" once in a while.

But I ignored that as the way... Allison? Amy? Whatever "Skynet Lite"'s name was was potrayed.

And, as I said, I think she's right and she should've won.

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ ARIA.

 

[nx1701g]

I've heard good things about it but haven't had the chance to see it yet. I'm planning to go this weekend (provided I'm not still in the bar after my Stats test Friday).

 

[Tom Servo]

It was pretty good. I must say though, the government really really really(!) needs to stop making super advanced AI computers, cause they always go haywire. I mean name one movie where the supercomputer is made, and then works EXACTLY like its supposed to.

 

[TGTheodore]

I was convinced half way through that wrong twin was killed and the actual spy was posing as his brother to get back to the computer undetected to finish pulling its plug (which I think would have made a great twist and a much better movie).

As it was ... eh ...

--Ted

 

[Locutus of Bored]

The action was exciting I guess, but it's not enough to just suspend your disbelief for this movie to work, you have to murder your disbelief, cremate the remains, and then launch them into space just to be sure.

Jerry's entire involvement in the film hinges on him being able to disable the biometric lockout enabled by his identical twin brother. Except for the rather large problem that identical twins don't have the same finger/palm-prints or retina/iris-pattens (neither would human clones). They're similar, but not enough to fool even the most basic biometric scanners or fingerprint analysts, which is why you don't hear of identical twins getting busted for the crimes of their sibling or accessing classified information with their sibling's security clearance. It's been studied extensively to make sure it wasn't a security concern, and should have been something you could easily look up on Google (unless ARIA was watching!) in about ten seconds, much like the oft repeated "humans only ever use 10% of their brains or else we'd all be super-powered geniuses" myth that never seems to die and is the central element of numerous movies and TV shows.

The level of networking might be a little more believable were this set in the time or society of 'Minority Report' or 'I, Robot' rather than in the present day. Automated networked cranes? Tiny networked ticker-tape displays inside store windows? Not to mention that by networking ARIA to all those sources they would also potentially be allowing anyone access back to her, which is why that would never fly.

The ease with which they got into the deepest levels of the Pentagon and the Capitol during a State of the Union address were ridiculous, even with help.

How could this woman not know her own son would be playing for the President and Congress? That's not the type of thing they keep secret from parents.

It was just an incredibly implausible movie.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

I enjoyed this movie. Most of it made absolutely no sense, but it was damn exciting and it had Vic Mackey as SecDef, which is pretty cool.

As for Rachel not knowing her son was playing for the President...he wasn't supposed to until the last second. That was the purpose of the scene with the ARIA-coerced government officials approaching the band teacher towards the end about the "change in plans."

I'm more concerned that someone Capitol Police believed to be an authentic FBI agent, who was admitted into the Library of Congress when the building was locked down, claims there is a direct threat against the President and ... the police don't bother to call it in. WTF? And why the hell did they let him in in the first place?

HERO: "There's a direct threat against the president and the entire chain of succession and its going down RIGHT NOW. I'm an FBI agent. See, I have a badge and everything."

COP: "No shit? Well, we better call this in..."

HERO: "No, no. You need to just let me into the library. There's no time."

COP: "Um, I have a radio right here. I just call in POTUS 111 and SS shits a brick and evacuates the building...wait, why do you have to get into the library?"

HERO: "Cause I'm the only one who can stop the fiendish plot!"

COP: "There are hundreds of Capitol Police, Marines, Secret Service and black ops counter-assassination personnel crawling all over the Capitol Building...I'm sure any one of them could-"

HERO: "You don't GET IT! Only I can disrupt the ceremony in the most dramatic way possible, get shot, inexplicably not die and save the day...and get the girl."

COP: "Oh, well, when you put it that way..." [COP unlocks door and ushers in HERO]

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Except for the rather large problem that identical twins don't have the same finger/palm-prints or retina/iris-pattens (neither would human clones). They're similar, but not enough to fool even the most basic biometric scanners or fingerprint analysts, which is why you don't hear of identical twins getting busted for the crimes of their sibling or accessing classified information with their sibling's security clearance.

Somebody should have told that to Rico Dredd.

But then how do you explain this? Or this?

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Except for the rather large problem that identical twins don't have the same finger/palm-prints or retina/iris-pattens (neither would human clones). They're similar, but not enough to fool even the most basic biometric scanners or fingerprint analysts, which is why you don't hear of identical twins getting busted for the crimes of their sibling or accessing classified information with their sibling's security clearance.

But then how do you explain this? Or this?

I forgot to include DNA in the examples I provided since I was just thinking about the biometric scanner used in the film. DNA starts out the same in identical twins (differences that occur later through mutation can be detected, but it's extremely expensive, time consuming, and requires very advanced testing), but fingerprints and retinal patterns differ slightly depending on such factors in the womb as position, nutrition, etc.

 

[Mr Light]

This movie was surprisingly excellent! Kudos to a trailer that gives nothing away; I suspected but didn't know it was about evil AI. The action scenes were excellent and original, the story was interesting and twisty.

 

[SlyCardie]

I was very pleased with this movie, the turns and the action kept me entertained and on the edge of my seat throughout the whole movie. I was surprised at Billy Bob's part in the film, but honestly he nails any role that he does so I can't complain.
If you haven't seen it, I definitely recommend checking it out.

 

[Barbados Slim]

I give it a C. The action was okay, although poorly filmed, especially the car chase. Aria was ridiculous, looking like a prop from Event Horizon. Why did she have a pool? Why didn't Anthony Mackie's character just shoot it in the eye instead of whatever liquid nitrogen cooling whatever thing he was doing? Why don't they learn to put a knife switch somewhere that just shuts the whole thing off?

I just felt there was a smart idea that was lazily executed. It no longer becomes exciting when the computer can shock the networked steel grate floors or map out everything so that there's a Porsche at the right corner and shotguns in the back of an armored car with a networked rear door.

Shia and Michelle Monaghan were great though. Overall it was more entertaining to laugh at than to really get into.