Washington, D.C. (December 29, 2008) -- It seems as if Shia LaBeouf has carved out quite a niche for himself in films, namely the wise ass lead in action films, with Transformers, Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and now Eagle Eye.

Mr. LaBeouf stars with Michelle Monaghan as two average citizens in Chicago who are activated by a mysterious female voice on their phones who has the ability to seemingly manipulate everything around them, from their cellphones to street lights, cranes, trains and street signs. The voice threatens either their personal safety or the safety of their loved ones to force them to take the actions needed to fulfill a secret plan that does not become apparent to them until the very end of the film.

Both are chased from the streets of Chicago to Indianapolis to Washington, D.C. by a counterterrorism FBI agent played by Billy Bob Thornton who initially believes they are terrorists. The film is a bit lacking in the plot department and has little in the way of character development and a fairly transparent ending that can be spotted from a mile away. However, it does have plenty of action and is a lot of fun which is not a bad thing in today’s economic climate.
Recommended.
Movie -- 3 stars out of 5.


Michelle Monaghan co-stars in Eagle Eye.

THE VIDEO: 4 3/4 stars out of 5
Eagle Eye is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:40:1 and is another strong encode from the folks at  Paramount/Dreamworks. If you are looking for a film with a natural color palette, this is not the film for you. The color palette here shifts from an overly golden tinged one to a very cool looking blueish one. This film does not feature natural looking flesh tones so don’t go looking for them and instead, goes for a very stylized look. On the plus side, detail is excellent as are black levels which contributes to an image with excellent clarity and depth. The only real issue I had with the encode is the occasional crushing of blacks in some nighttime and interior scenes. Otherwise, this is a fine looking transfer and one that will thrill fans of the film.

THE AUDIO:  4 3/4 stars out of 5
The audio on this release is encoded with Dolby True HD and sounds fantastic with excellent bass response, dynamics, transparency and imaging. Dialogue is well recorded and well placed in the mix. The dialogue is intelligible even during the action sequences which can get rather loud. A particularly good example is the “rescue” scene early in the film when a crane crashes through the side of the building housing the FBI office. The crane crashes through the side of the building and passes right through your room with the visuals in perfect sync with the audio. The bass is deep and tight and your room is filled with sound and room rattling bass. Despite all this sound, the dialogue remains completely intelligible. The only downside to the audio which keeps it from having a perfect score of 5 for me is a bit of brightness which results in a bit of listener fatigue at reference levels. Other than this minor quibble, this is an excellent sounding release.

EXTRAS
As one would expect with a major release, Eagle Eye on Blu-Ray comes equipped with many extras with all but the photo gallery being in HD. The HD extras consist of deleted scenes, Asymmetrical Warfare: The Making of Eagle Eye, Eagle Eye on Location in Washington, D.C., Is My Cell Phone Spying on Me?, Shall We Play a Game, a gag reel, Road Trip: On Location with the Cast and Crew and theatrical trailer.

IN CONCLUSION
Eagle Eye is a action packed film and a great ride. It features excellent audio and video and is well worth a viewing. Recommended.

Click here to buy the Blu-ray edition of Eagle Eye.