Rent Eye in the Sky (2015)
3.6 of 5 from 948 ratings
1h 38min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- London-based military intelligence officer Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) is remotely commanding a top secret drone operation to capture a group of dangerous terrorists in Nairobi, Kenya. When the mission suddenly escalates from a "capture" to a "kill" operation and innocent lives are put at risk, the impossible decision of whether to strike gets passed up the chain of command. With the clock ticking, the brutal realities of modern warfare play out among the military, politicians and lawyers thousands of miles away from the front line.
- Actors:
- Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman, Faisa Hassan, Aisha Takow, Armaan Haggio, Bob Chappell, Alex Gallafent, Babou Ceesay, Carl Beukes, Kate Liquorish, Richard Stephenson, Gabriella Pinto, Tylan Wray, Hossain Dahir, Mondé Sibisi, Warren Masemola, Ahmed Mohamed Ali, Phoebe Fox, Lemogang Tsipa
- Directors:
- Gavin Hood
- Producers:
- Ged Doherty, Colin Firth, Genevieve Hofmeyr, David Lancaster
- Writers:
- Guy Hibbert
- Studio:
- E1 Entertainment
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Drama, Thrillers
- Collections:
- 2016, CinemaParadiso.co.uk Through Time, Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: Helen Mirren
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 15/08/2016
- Run Time:
- 102 minutes
- Languages:
- English Audio Description, English DTS 2.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.40:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Morals
- Perspectives
- Cast and Crew Interviews
- Photo Gallery
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Reviews (13) of Eye in the Sky
great - Eye in the Sky review by CP Customer
A fives star movie! I loved it a great story, gripping, upsetting, dangerous, nervewracking...... Up to date story Amazing actors & a really gritty plot, you cant wait to see what happens next.
3 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
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.
1 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
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.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Critic review
Eye in the Sky review by Adrijan Arsovski - Cinema Paradiso
With questioning morals and an overall moot war message aimed at no one in particular, Eye in the Sky still manages to thrill audiences enough so they sit through a whole cinema viewing session. Its dragging decision-making part certainly doesn’t help the ordeal, but at least acknowledges that there IS an ordeal in the first place.
As we wake up every day, we witness enormous advancements in technology, how it’s used and how it shouldn’t, but the goal of war still stays the same. Now, we won’t argue about the ultimate goal for victory on the battlefield (cough: resources) – instead we’re going to ask ourselves the penultimate question: what is war and how it plays out in the life of everyone involved?
Eye in the Sky asks these questions, but it’s really hard for anyone who hasn’t seen the horrors of war with his own eyes to come up with a reasonable answer. Then again, is there a difference between ancient conflict and modern warfare?
The main difference is in the advancements of technology. Biological, tactical and even nuclear warfare impose themselves as THE elephants in the room, with world leaders avoiding in-depth discussion with the public for reasons very clear to all of us: these are tacky subjects able to inflame even the kindest of leaders by as little as a simple misunderstanding, or even errors in translation.
Eye in the Sky is everything about this, and more. It raises the question of the so-called ‘collateral damage’ conundrum, the corrupt bureaucracy of the world organizations and the inept decision-making of intelligence agents when put under pressure.
It does this by introducing three countries working side-by-side: Britain, Kenya and America whose representatives include Colonel Katherine Powell (played by Helen Mirren), Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) and Lieutenant General Frank Benson acted by the late Alan Rickman among others. All actors come as believable enough to re-ignite the audience’s interest after a prolonged decision-making part in the middle, and they succeed in doing so. Out of the bunch, perhaps Helen Mirren is the least believable in her portrayal of a high state official.
The thriller aspect of the movie comes not out of amazing action scenes and prolific explosions – rather it’s the conflict of attitudes that brings the drama to whole new heights. Time is also of the essence, and if a decision is not being made, there can be even bigger consequences than sacrificing one life to save many.
To conclude, and Eye in the Sky is a worthy film of one’s attention, regardless if one agrees with the moral sermons postulated forth all throughout the movie’s running time.