How entertaining? ★★★☆☆
Thought provoking? ★★★☆☆ 5 January 2016
A movie review of EYE IN THE SKY. |
YouTube review:
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“Revolutions are fuelled by postings on YouTube,” James Willett (Iain Glen)
EYE IN THE SKY provides a timely war-as-bureaucracy thriller. Due to the tension and the classy cast, IN THE LOOP-style satire is skirted, just. Intentional humour, at portrayal of passing the buck, deftly punctuates the tension, and doesn’t derail proceedings, by being all too believable. Epic battles and bloody mayhem are not on the agenda. This is a war film about drone strikes, where everyone involved has an opinion on pulling the trigger. In traditional combat cinema, EYE IN THE SKY is the equivalent of a 102-minute switching off of the safety catch. Far from boring, the continual shifting of pace and arena keeps the audience on its toes.
EYE IN THE SKY provides a timely war-as-bureaucracy thriller. Due to the tension and the classy cast, IN THE LOOP-style satire is skirted, just. Intentional humour, at portrayal of passing the buck, deftly punctuates the tension, and doesn’t derail proceedings, by being all too believable. Epic battles and bloody mayhem are not on the agenda. This is a war film about drone strikes, where everyone involved has an opinion on pulling the trigger. In traditional combat cinema, EYE IN THE SKY is the equivalent of a 102-minute switching off of the safety catch. Far from boring, the continual shifting of pace and arena keeps the audience on its toes.
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Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren on steely form) wakens from slumber and goes to her hi-tech shed office (not out of place in THE INCREDIBLES). Quickly, it comes to the UK authorities’ attention that numbers 2, 4 and 5 on their East African terrorist kill list have popped to the surface. There is a rare opportunity to capture, which has been authorised by the British prime minister (who is now away and uncontactable in Strasbourg - the first of many cheekily ambiguous asides).
The espionage movie global playing fields now array themselves:
- Northwood, London where Katherine establishes operational headquarters.
- The powers that be overseeing the mission at Whitehall government offices, London.
- Drone pilots in Las Vegas, Nevada controlling the subtly monikered “reaper”.
- Kenya, the diplomatically friendly country, where the targets are located.
- The UK foreign secretary, James Willett (Iain Glen – who one kept expecting/hoping to call Helen Mirren “Khaleesi”), is at an arms trade fair in Singapore, and happens to be awkwardly suffering from an upset stomach.
- The U.S. Secretary of State meanwhile is visiting Beijing, China. (The difference between British and American foreign policy decision delivery is another humorous aside.)
Capturing or assassinating is not of the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE/Bond rogue variety. Protocol, politics and the rules of engagement are the meat of the runtime. Debate and confined spaces are theatrical in their conception. Military/executive procedural reality is subsumed to the requisites of drama, and the discussion as to the value of life. It is as if this is the first scenario the players have had to deal with, which at times feels patronising to audience intelligence. Not helping the film is having a little girl, Alia Mo’Allim (Aisha Takow), selling bread caught in the crosshairs.
Better than DRONES and not as interestingly cynical as GOOD KILL, EYE IN THE SKY misjudges a mawkish closing credits coda, leaving the wrong taste in the mouth.
However, the feeling of narrative real time compounds the excitement. As does the almost interactive moral ambiguity, continually asking the audience to decide after each new revelation.
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