Movie Breakdown: Eye In The Sky

Pre-Screening Stance:

I love all of the folks in Eye In The Sky – Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman (in one of his final performances), Aaron Paul and others – but director Gavin Hood has been on a serious losing streak (from X-Men Origins: Wolverine to Ender’s Game), and that has me feeling fairly hesitant about the film.  Also, the trailers have me thinking it’ll be a boring, melodramatic affair.

Post-Screening Ramble:

Eye In The Sky, which revolves around one “simple” decision – whether or not a bunch of high priority terrorists and potential suicide bombers should be wiped out via a drone, is an interesting film that’s three particular things: 1) a dark, satirical take on the bureaucracy involved with military strikes. 2) a scary reminder about the variety of high quality surveillance tools currently available for “the man” to use. 3) a compelling look at the “grunts” who have to pull the trigger, properly determine what the collateral damage will be and so on and so forth.

If that sounds like a lot, it’s because it is, and while watching Eye In The Sky you’ll definitely have moments where it all feels like too much.  This is on purpose though, as director Gavin Hood layers the various themes in the film in a way that aims to leave you confounded as to whether or not you should laugh, gasp, hang your head in shame or just run out of the theater.  It’s overall good work by Hood, and – even though I could have done without its unnecessarily dramatic ending – I have no problems recommending it.  When you can, catch Eye In The Sky, especially if you’re into movies that make you think about them long after you’ve left the theater.

One Last Thought:

It’s such a bummer that Alan Rickman is gone.  At least he’s in two films this year though – Eye In The Sky (duh) and Alice Through The Looking Glass.