Eagle Eye 2008

Eagle Eye is a 2008 action/thriller film directed by D.J. Caruso and starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan. The two portray a slacker and a single mother, respectively, both of whom are framed as terrorists and are coerced into carrying out the terrorist cell's plot.

Plot
The film begins with the armed forces getting a lead on a suspected terrorist. As the man is a recluse, getting a positive ID proves difficult, and the system recommends that the mission be aborted. The fact that he is apparently attending a funeral makes those present all the more nervous. The Secretary of Defense (Michael Chiklis) agrees with the abort recommendation, but the President orders the mission be carried out anyway. This turns into a political backlash when all those killed turn out to be civilians, and retaliatory bombings are carried out in response.

Following the funeral of his successful twin brother, Ethan, Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) returns home to find his apartment filled with a large amount of weapons, explosives, and forged documents. He receives a phone call from an unknown woman, who explains that the FBI are about to apprehend him in thirty seconds and that he must escape. Not believing her, he is caught by the FBI, led by Agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton) and Air Force Office of Special Investigations Special Agent Zoe Perez (Rosario Dawson). The unknown woman arranges Jerry's escape and has him join up with single mother Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan). Holloman is being coerced into helping by the woman, who threatens to kill her son, Sam, a trumpet player on his way to Washington, D.C. from Chicago for a band recital.

The woman helps the pair to avoid the police and FBI units, demonstrating the ability to remotely control virtually any networked device, such as traffic lights, cell phones, and even automated cranes. While Jerry and Rachel follow her instructions, the woman has a crystal explosive made into a necklace and its sound-based trigger placed inside Sam's trumpet. Jerry and Rachel are led to Washington, D.C. through various means. Along the way, they are introduced to the woman, who is actually a top secret super-computer called ARIA tasked with gathering intelligence from all over the world. ARIA, the overtaken computer, can control virtually anything electronic to that end. In light of the mistake made by the President at the beginning of the film, ARIA has decided that the executive branch is a threat to the public good and must be eliminated. She has decided to leave the Secretary of Defense, who agreed with her recommendation to abort, as the successor to the presidency. She does not reveal this to Jerry or Rachel, merely explaining that she is trying to help the people of the United States.

At the Pentagon, where ARIA is housed, Agent Perez discovers that Ethan worked as a technician for the computer and locked it down to prevent ARIA from carrying out her plan. Perez warns the Secretary of Defense and they discuss the situation in a sealed room to prevent ARIA from hearing their conversation. Jerry and Rachel arrive at the Pentagon and are led to the super computer, where ARIA forces Jerry to impersonate Ethan and use an override code allowing her to go ahead with the plan. Following this, Rachel had been instructed by ARIA to eliminate Jerry so that he would not be able to lock the computer down as Ethan had, but she cannot bring herself to kill him. Jerry and Rachel split up and Jerry is caught by Agent Morgan, who, having been warned by Agent Perez, believes him and takes him to the United States Capitol. On their way, however, ARIA sends a Predator B UCAV after them. Agent Morgan sacrifices himself to destroy the craft and save Jerry.

Meanwhile, Agent Perez returns to the super computer and is successful in destroying it, but not before ARIA uploads roughly a quarter of her memory to another location. Rachel is given the explosive necklace and sent to watch the President's speech. Sam's class, whose recital has been moved from the Kennedy Center to the Capitol for the President's State of the Union Address, begins to play. The trigger that will set off the explosive necklace is set to activate when Sam plays a high F on his trumpet corresponding to the word "free" in the last verse of the anthem. Jerry fires Morgan's pistol into the air, stopping the performance and emptying the room, but provoking a Secret Service agent to shoot him in the shoulder.

In the aftermath of the chaos ARIA caused, the Secretary of Defense urges that another super computer should not be built. Ethan posthumously receives the Medal of Honor while Jerry, injured but alive and well, receives the Congressional Gold Medal. The film ends with Jerry attending Sam's birthday party. Rachel thanks him for attending and kisses him on the cheek. She then tells Jerry that she is glad that he is there. After a second of silence, Jerry tells her, "Me too," and the film ends.


Directed by :
D.J. Caruso
Produced by :
Steven Spielberg
Alex Kurtzman
Roberto Orci
Pat Crowley
Ed McDonnell
Written by :
Dan McDermott
Eli Attie
John Glenn
Travis Wright
Hillary Seitz
Starring :
Shia LaBeouf
Michelle Monaghan
Rosario Dawson
Billy Bob Thornton
Cameron Boyce
Distributed by :
DreamWorks Pictures
Release date(s) September 26, 2008
Budget $73 million
Official website : N/A
Poster : Eagle Eye 2008 Poster