Directed by : Gavin Hood
Written by : Guy Hibbert
Starring : Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman, Aaron Paul, Aisha Takow, Barkhad Abdi
Release Date : March 10, 2016
"Eye In The Sky" opens up with some seemingly tedious scenes that are just focusing on the character introductions that are spread throughout six different set locations in Kenya, the UK, and in the USA, which made me think that this movie was going to be a mess. However, once the main premise kicks in, it turned out to be a very compelling story about the moral, legal, and political questions surrounding modern drone warfare. It's a movie that mostly just revolves around people talking around a table, text messaging, phone calls, teleconferencing, and videos of satellite feeds, yet I was on the edge of my seat for a good chunk of the film.
The main drive of this story is that it focuses on multiple perspectives across people who are in different chains of commands. From the innocent little girl who just happens to be near a residence housing a targeted terrorist, the high-ranking military officers, the drone pilots, the lawyers, the bureaucrats, to the data analysts. The question on whether a drone strike should happen or not, has to apparently first go through a series of red tape. It almost becomes like a comedy when somebody can't commit to a final decision, and then refers to needing to hear first from another person of authority, who then also needs to confer with somebody else, and so on, and so forth. It's at least a good method of showing us the different cast, that includes Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, and the last live film performance of the late great Alan Rickman.
Intentionally, the narrative here is designed to make us wonder what we would do if we were in their situation. There are multiple plot turns that happens in the story that can feel predictable, contrived, and manipulative, into forcing us to think one way, and then something else happens that is then telling us to think another way. This can be called a propaganda film, but the story really tries to play it on both sides of the argument. So which angle is it propagandizing? It's really a debate movie, as well as a political one, with that thriller element of it being constrained within a time frame of us witnessing a drone mission in pseudo real time, that has a looming deadline for an immediate resolution. This movie gives you plenty of reasons to go through different emotions that will make you either cheer or jeer at the screen.
Director Gavin Hood does a great job in juggling the different facets of Guy Hibbert's script for "Eye In The Sky." The movie itself is more complicated than what the promotional trailer might make you believe, and it will probably make you want to go and immediately have a conversation with someone about what you just saw.
lovedit ENJOYED IT itsokayitsmehitsterrible
