Rent Eye in the Sky (2015)

Tense, intelligent, predictable - Eye in the Sky review by Alphaville

This is a good 2015 film about the moral dilemmas of drone warfare. Unfortunately it was beaten to the punch by the equally good 2015 film Good Kill. Both films place a nice family in harm’s way as collateral damage when the Brits and Americans decide a bomb needs to be dropped on the terrorists next door. Whereas Good Kill focussed on the dilemmas of the drone pilots, Eye in the Sky focusses more on the ethical and political dilemmas faced by the ‘kill chain’ – the military, the politicians and the lawyers as well as the pilots.

Placing an innocent girl at the heart of the bomb zone is an obvious manipulative device but works well as a focal point for the debate. The film could easily have become just another political polemic with a plot you can see a mile off, but director Gavin Hood maintains the tension and turns in an engrossing thriller.

Let down by its over-egged moral debate - Eye in the Sky review by MD

Drones are all the rage at the moment, and this film puts them centre stage in the war on fundamentalist terror groups.

The central idea is solid, focusing on a mission in which drone surveillance is first used to help track and capture two major suspects, and which then becomes upgraded to using the drone's weapons to kill the suspects. It is a taut and suspenseful drama, particularly in the first half as we switch back and forth between the many commanders, soldiers, agents, politicians and drone operators involved in the mission.

Where the film falls down in my opinion is (a) by giving far too much weight and screen time to the story of a single innocent girl's fate, and (b) by going on and on in laborious detail about the pros and cons of killing a few innocent bystanders to save hundreds more from suicide bombers. I actually got annoyed in the second half because the plotting was so blatantly manipulated to get the girl into the story, and because, while the arguments put forward by all the different protagonists were compelling, they did not belong in a movie. In trying to be fair-minded and show the many faceted problems of targeting terrorists from 20,000 feet up, the film lost its pace and tension, and became overdone to the point of tedium.

So, full marks for tackling a very current subject, and for at least not dumbing it down in the way movies usually do, but only three stars because ultimately the movie fails to maintain its early promise, and becomes a little too flawed and overly melodramatic to be fully satisfying.

Great thriller - Eye in the Sky review by GT

Enjoyed this film, tight script and well acted. If you enjoy shouting at the screen to release all the tension that is created then this is for you

A silly, sentimental, unbelievable and deeply stupid movie in thrall to 'political correctness'. - Eye in the Sky review by PV

To enjoy a drama one must engage in the "willing suspension of disbelief" as Samuel Taylor Coleridge correctly argued. This film shows how veering away from that truth leads to a story that is utterly unbelievable, with unbelievable characters behaving in unbelievable ways. The end result is not pleasure of fulfilment, but deep annoyance and irritation.

This is basically a vehicle for Helen Mirren who is totally unbelievable in a role as the chief of the army or some such nonsense. Well, if she's senior soldier material I'm an Olympic champion! Too silly for words BUT in these pc days the pressure is on for more female leads so this is the mess we get.

Then there are the soldiers - tough US soldiers with years of training and killing experience - and yet, because of one wickle girl selling bread, they turn into blubbering wrecks crying on the job and unable to do it either! Soldiers kill - they do and will, and will kill civilians too if that means it prevents greater catastrophe and killing, So the whole pretext of the plot if absurd.

No doubt the director though it best just to be on the side of the poor people in Africa so we get our noses rubbed in how awful their lives are.

A truly awful film on every dramatic level.

It has good special effects and watching the drones is fun (though not sure I believe the science). Maybe if I am forced to watch this film in my lifetime, I certainly hope I'll be stone deaf by then so I won't hear any of its nonsense.

What a sad finale to Alan Rickman's career. A clunky subplot about buying his daughter a toy doll scrapes the bottom of the barrel then goes right through the wood, as does all this film.

1.5 stars rounded down.

magnificent triller to praise the armed forces and governments -oUK and USA- - Eye in the Sky review by MF

goood script, well acted, gripping thriller and the message is an uncritical praise of the military and governments of UK and USA who spend an agonising hour trying to save the life of a little girl int he middle of an antiterrorist operation.

Hard to believe such ethical delicacy thinking about actual operations in Afganistan and the invasion of Iraq -to this day-

Terrible - Eye in the Sky review by IC

Not only frustrating to watch (not tense at all, just frankly annoying), but there is no single standout performance from any cast member which is a suprise given the names involved. It's a completely unrealistic, unengaging fantasy scenario that unless you don't value your time, you should avoid at all costs.

An incredible, gripping film, although sadly Alan Rickman's last performance - Eye in the Sky review by Timmy B

This film came out of nowhere. It was something which I had seen advertised & recommended, but there wasn't much fanfare for it. But it is incredible.

The film looks at the moral, ethical and legal dilemmas which are wrapped up within a military operation. Helen Mirren is the commander of a British forces unit which is ordered to capture a group of terrorists in Africa. Then the order comes that they are to launch a missile and kill the insurgent, not capture them. This then sets off a chain of events where everyone involved is forced to confront their own feelings, as well as their fears about the legality of what they are doing.

Firstly, the cast are uniformly great. Mirren at the centre brings the power and empathy she can do effortlessly to the central role. Aaron Paul also really shows his dramatic ability to move past Breaking Bad with a layered, complex character. And this also is the final performance of the masterful Alan Rickman, before his shocking passing. Although it's a small role, it's a great reminder of why he was also one of the best actors we've ever produced.

As the film goes on, I felt myself more and more on the edge of my seat. And the ending was also perfectly done as well, not a neat perfect one, but showing the hopelessness of the situation we humans constantly find ourselves: war and conflict.