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Spoiler Points for Eagle Eye (2008) [PG-13] 118 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $13.75
DVD Release Date: Unscheduled (please check back)
Spoiler Points for Eagle Eye
• Two little Middle Eastern boys running through the desert highlands that overlook their village. From miles above the earth, we get satellite video footage in an ops room in at the Pentagon where Admiral Thompson (Bill Smitrovich) of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is in command. Some indications are that the man in the footage is on the most wanted terrorist list, but the computer cannot extrapolate sufficient facial recognition points to give a very positive ID. In bursts defense Secretary Callister (Michale Chiklis) to add fuel to the fire. More data is interpolated, but the computer still recommends a mission abort. Callister contacts the President who overrules the computer and the Secretary siding with Thompson who then orders remote controlled missile launches on the group which may be in the middle of a funeral by the looks of things.
• Meanwhile, back in Chicago, Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf), an associate at Copy Cabana and Stanford drop out, wins a back room poker game before heading home from his shift. Upon arrival, he's met with his dear, sweet, little old landlady who desperately wants the rent. He gives her some of the poker earnings, when his cell rings bringing him bad news. His twin brother Ethan, whom he's not seen in 3 years, has been killed in a freak accident in Washington, D.C. He goes to the funeral leading to an uncomfortable encounter with his father William (Willian Sadler) who's still gravely disappointed in his still-living son.
• Meanwhile, elsewhere in Chicago, a divorced mother of one, Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan), argues with her son, Sam (Cameron Boyce) to get ready to meet his dad. She ends up having to take the boy to the train station herself where he's meeting up with his band director as they've been invited to perform at the Kennedy Center. Dad shows up late with excuses, and she's not hearing them.
• Jerry heads home, but stops on the way at an ATM and is amazed to find his account now contains $750,000. He makes a withdrawal as the machine spits money all over the place. He gives two months rent to his landlady who's more preoccupied with the packages he's received throughout the day. He enters and his life changes from that moment forever. His apartment is now jam-packed with every bit of evidence that would ever be needed to prove he's a domestic terrorist: fertilizer, weapons, communication devices, false passports, you name it. His cell phone rings and he's told "Jerry Shaw, you've been activated. You've got exactly 3 minutes to get out of the building before the authorities arrive to arrest you." And so on. Of course, he doesn't believe the voice, and that's why shortly thereafter he's arrested by Agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton) and taken in.
• At precisely the same time, Rachel Holloman receives a similar phone call and told if she doesn't comply, the train carrying her son will be derailed. Both Jerry and Rachel are very confused, but when Jerry gets another message, and this time he listens. His escape has been planned. He ducks, and a crane arm crashed into the office tower. He jumps and nearly escapes. On the El, the voice contacts him again via a passenger's cell phone and gives him further instructions which he tries not to follow, but the voice seems capable of anything and everything including: shutting down and switching the direction of the train he's on, controlling traffic signals, monitoring his every move, and controlling every electronic device in his vicinity. The voice and electronic signs give him messages and eventually lead him to a Porsche Cayenne being driven by Rachel all the while Agent Morgan is in hot pursuit.
• They race all over Chicago following the orders of the voice on the phone. Eventually they end up at an auto wrecking company and escape the clutches of Agent Morgan by dropping on to a trash barge in the lake.
• Eventually, they end up in Indianapolis where they balk at the voice's assignments. The voice directs them to a mall and then to a home theatre where it shows them what it knows and it knows everything about them most importantly how to control them.
• The are forced to steal a case from an armored car that turns out to contain hypodermic guns they'll need later. They re-board a bus of Asian tourists and make their way to the airport. There, they are nearly captured again by Thomas Morgan. They get away in a cool chase through the baggage processing system. They assume the case, which has a count-down timer is an explosive device, but they are wrong. When it opens, they are told to use the hypo-guns to inject an experimental treatment to allow them to survive in the unpressurized cargo hold of the military cargo plane. They comply and then get into the container.
• They arrive in Washington, D.C. and are directed to the Eagle Eye command center. Turns out that Eagle Eye is giant computer mainframe device created to protect the USA from terrorist activity, and she needs Jerry. Why?
Side Track:
• As Jerry and Rachel are on a cross country mission, Zoe Perez (Rosario Dawson) of the Air Force is trying to get to the bottom of Jerry's brother's death which she believes has something to do with all of this. She is taken and shown Eagle Eye and it is believed that she'll be able to figure out what went on. In watching tapes of the hours before Ethan left the Eagle Eye, she notices him leaving early and flashing something with his cell phone to the camera. She deduces it's Morse Code and deciphers the word "fire extinguisher". She goes to the nearest one and finds a message from Ethan Shaw. Turns out that Ethan was worried about the computer, called Aria, getting a mind of its own and be operating on it's own will. He locks it out using his voice command override from executing its plan. Aria is responsible for his death, and many others, but nothing to compare with what she intends. When the President overruled her decision to abort the mission, she identified him as a person willing to put the United States at risk. She perceives this as a selfish choice and not one that is in the best interest of the nation. So, she concludes the Pres, VP, and entire cabinet except Defense must go, and she plots to bring in a explosive to Congress for the State of the Union Address.
• To make her play work…
••She needs Jerry Shaw to override the voice command of his brother—not sure, but never heard that twins would have the exact same voice patter, but the computer seems to be pretty sure.
• She needs a way of secretly bringing in an explosive to the Congress and a trigger. She had a mythological hex-crystal explosive carved into a beautiful diamond shape stone and planted into a necklace. She has the sonic frequency trigger place inside Sam Holloway's trumpet. Then she arranges for the performance to be moved from the Kennedy Center to the Congressional Hall. She orders Rachel to shoot Jerry as soon as she's unlocked on her mission. She won't do, and flees. She has a man intercept and give her instructions to change and ready herself for the State of the Union address which she'll be attending. She put on the necklace oblivious to the explosive stone she's now wearing around her neck.
• As soon as Jerry unlocks the program, she enacts her protocols to justify the assassination of the senior leadership who will all be at the State of the Union address, but Jerry gets away leaving Zoe Perez to shut the system down. She eventually does so by stabbing it's electro eye with a rod.
• Jerry tries to get to the Congress and is told by Agent Morgan who now is in on the plan to stop Eagle Eye, that he can reach the Capitol via an underground tunnel from the Library of Congress.
• Rachel sees Sam below and is very happy. She starts working her way toward him through the crowd and then as they are playing the Star Spangled Banner. Just as Sam would hit the F note that would activate the crystal explosive suspended around his mother's neck…
The Ending…
• Jerry bust in and starts shooting of his gun causing a panic. He gets shot by Secret Service agents, but not killed. The ruckus shuts down the performance and they are all spared.
• Ethan Shaw is posthumously awarded a medal of honor.
• Jerry shows up and Sam's next birthday party and kisses Rachel hello.
Sequel Potential…
• A portion no smaller than 27% of Aria was uploaded to satellites in space before she was destroyed. Could it be enough for her to get back in to power?
Analysis Questions…
• Why would Aria select to sacrifice a mother and son for her plans? She's all about upholding the Constitution, but sees no problem in harming innocent people?
• At one point, it is mentioned that liquid nitrogen is being used to cool Aria. But, the liquid released doesn't freeze Zoe Perez, she's swimming in the stuff?
• Do the voice prints of twins match? Their finger prints do not.
• Why doesn't the government figure out what Aria's doing sooner? Surely they are capable of knowing what she can do.
• Is this film too much like War Games / Terminator Franchise / and others where the government's own inventions turn on us?
• Should we be more worried about the Internet achieving sentience – self awareness – and then taking matters of survival of the world into it's own hand?
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