'Eagle Eye' is full of action but empty on credibility

A lot of noise, signifying nothing, “Eagle Eye” is the latest film that proves if you turn up the sound loud enough and crash enough cars, you can beat an audience into submission.

Since there have been no major special-effects light shows in a few weeks, this would-be thriller should do well at the box office.
It has the formula behind it and the blessing of executive producer Steven Spielberg, who continues to put on airs as if he were the elder statesman of the film industry while  turning out commercial dreck such as this.

“Eagle Eye” wants to be both an action film and a political thriller. It is not a good example of either.

Shia LaBeouf is an ordinary-looking young man with modest acting ability, not a major star. Despite his weak outing as Mutt in the latest “Indiana Jones,” LaBeouf is still positioned for that long-running franchise. “Transformers” (2007) was also a hit (because of special effects, not him).  

 “Eagle Eye” borrows from so many movies that it is unlikely to get busted for any one rip-off. Like Hitchcock’s “North By Northwest” and “Three Days of the Condor” with Robert Redford, it involves an unknowing, innocent man (or boy) on the run from forces he doesn’t understand.

Like “The 39 Steps,” he is unwillingly tied to an unknown female fugitive. Like Hitchcock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” an assassination plot is timed to the high note in a concert (but Doris Day is not here to scream about it).

As in “The Fugitive,” an innocent man is on the run (with Billy Bob Thornton, of all people, taking the Tommy Lee Jones role). Put the two runners together, and they’re a variation of “Bonnie and Clyde.”

With the political assassination mixed in, it clearly would like to be akin to “The Manchurian Candidate.” That’s a lot of borrowing, and all from good sources.

The noisy action scenes, though wonderfully staged, are so nonsensical that they get in the way rather than further the murky plot. The first hour makes no sense.

LaBeouf plays Jerry Shaw, the slacker twin brother of an Air Force dude who is killed in an auto accident. Suddenly, the penniless Jerry finds $750,000 in his bank account and bomb equipment in his apartment. The FBI has him on the run, with Billy Bob asking the questions.

A sexy woman’s voice on his cell phone keeps giving him running orders and seems to be in cahoots with every machine in the Western World. As he runs, Jerry gets orders on electronic billboards. Traffic lights are changed to aid him in the car chases. Cameras and BlackBerries and everything that is electrical or gadgetlike is organized to keep him under control.

Our boy runner is joined by Michelle Monaghan as the mother of a kid named Sam. If she doesn’t do as she’s told, the voice says, Sam dies.

There are two particularly absurd action sequences. In the first, LaBeouf is rescued from the FBI office when a construction crane crashes through the window. Even more silly is a chase that evolves down an airport baggage conveyor belt. If you’ve ever waited for long periods for your baggage at the airport, you know they don’t move anything like this. Is there a more ludicrous action scene this movie year than Billy Bob Thornton tumbling down a baggage conveyor belt in pursuit of his prey?

To suggest something political, the movie begins with the Americans going through with an assassination of a terror suspect, even though it might cause civilian deaths. This angers the terrorists and sets off a plan to “eliminate” the executive branch of the government.
The eagle eye of the title has a central eye that reminds one of Hal, the computer in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” but set in a glitzy Las Vegas lounge.

In any case, after well over an hour, a threat does develop. Finally. By then, we’ve already tuned out.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347,  mal.vincent@pilotonline.com