I saw a midnight showing of Eagle Eye (I only see midnight showings) and I thought it was excellent action film, I liked that is was unique and fresh sure a similar movie Wargames: The dead Code was released recently so a case of Deja Vu overcame me at first but EE does a good job at being different. For 1; they had Shia who I see as the actor we of the 21st century much in the way the old timers see Al Paccino or Christopher Lee, I think hes coming into his own pretty well.
I liked how rather then it being the Government trying to control peoples lives or a terrorist group kinda plot it was a rogue machine actually going after the executive branch! I found it pretty bold and surprising.
However there are things I didn't like, I found alot of the action abscured by the "shaky camera" trick used to make it seem like alot more is going on, I found that the AI was taken out somewhat anticlimatically, why the heck did they keep until the end throwing away every weapon that fell into their reach? gah! Also he had an FBI badge, his gun, his key code thingy and probably enough information to whisk himself to the Sgt. At Arms why didn't he?
Also I felt that to some extant while they had a really good idea they didn't think it entirely through... if the AI was essentially godmode why did the FBI make so much progress?
All in all I enjoyed the movie, next week I shall enter the breech and partake in Canada's trial of fire. Paashendale.
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SPOILERS (but trust me, you don't want to go see this)
The premise of the movie is that a government computer designed to aid in defense matters mistakes a simulation for an active directive and sets about replacing the Executive Branch by blowing up the State of the Union. Nothing original or fresh about that.
I thought it was mildly interesting that the computer basically blackmailed a host of different people to do its bidding since it had zero actual people involved in the conspiracy.
Honestly my biggest complaint? BIG SPOILER - That Shia didn't die at the end. He was shot like a half dozen times from close range and survived? Meh. I think it would have been better if he and the FBI agent, and his brother had all died, or rather intentionally sacrificed themselves for the cause. Well, two of them intentionally sacrificed themselves.
Oh, my other complaint? They stole part of the plot from an episode of South Park!. The method of destroying the State of the Union was a massive explosion triggered by a sonic detonator. In other words, they hid the detonator in a trumpet, and when someone plays the right note, the bomb goes off. That's the same plot as an early episode of South Park, except they weren't blowing up a cow.
END SPOILER
If you don't actually want to be challenged and want to see some average B movie chase scenes and explosions, check it out. Judging from the chase scenes, explosions and some other stuff, I'd almost call it Die Hard 4.5. Except it wasn't nearly as good as Die Hard 4. Hell Die Hard 2 was better. And that's saying something.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Blayne Bradley
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posted
Exactly it was fresh, yes its an action movie and not The Hobbit or anything truly "epic" but it had alot of ideas that the writers/directors threw in there which is to say more then you could expect or some movies.
Now as for South Park even they had an episode devoted to the fact that not a single idea is ever truly your own, everything that has or can be done HAS or already been done. True creativity is simply managing to recombine them in a way that no one else can immediately recognize where they saw it before.
He hwas shot by my count 3 times by a gun ostensibly designed to wound not necessarily kill, police aren't military a bullet is a bullet but until corrected I could geuss that the pistol was using lower caliber bullets.
Saying "If you don't want to be challenged" is I think too harsh a critisism, few movies do challenge, "it was pretty good" on my scale is average to above average, it wasn't bad or terrible and did more for me then Mission Impossible 3.
A "great" or "terrific" movie is something I am currently reserving for Halo Fall of Reach when its finally released.
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quote:True creativity is simply managing to recombine them in a way that no one else can immediately recognize where they saw it before.
Then it wasn't at all creative. That doesn't mean it isn't entertaining, but it wasn't creative. It was flashy.
quote:He hwas shot by my count 3 times by a gun ostensibly designed to wound not necessarily kill, police aren't military a bullet is a bullet but until corrected I could geuss that the pistol was using lower caliber bullets.
I don't think any gun designed by law enforcement is designed to wound, but even that is beside the point. He was shot by Secret Service. Secret Service agents use a SigSauer with a .357 round. Secret Service agents are often ex-military, but even if these particular agents weren't, they get the best marksmanship training of any law enforcement agency in the country, federal or otherwise. It strains believability that using those weapons and with their training, they didn't kill a guy who was standing out in the open in an elevated position who made no attempt to reduce his profile.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
I thought it was an ok movie. Definitely entertaining, although it didn't require suspension of disbelief so much as hogtying disbelief and throwing it in a dark closet.
That said, it does have one of the most disgustingly blatant product placement scenes that I can recall. If not for the fact that it was only one scene, I might even say that it gives heroes a run for its money in this regard.
Posts: 2437 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Lyrhawn- Did you not consider that they might not want to kill him? I'm pretty sure they would have some questions for him, wouldn't you? He was shot in the shoulder, not exactly a fatal shot.
Posts: 1287 | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
I absolutely did not consider that, and now that I have, I think it's silly. I have no doubt that they'd have questions for him, I think we'd have questions for Osama Bin Laden, but that won't stop us from nailing him from the air with a hellfire from a predator drone.
But when you pull your gun you shoot to kill. They don't teach them to aim for shoulders and legs, they teach them to aim for head and the center of the chest. The fact that he was shot in the shoulder with a non-fatal shot is exactly the part I find unbelievable.
They absolutely would have shot to kill.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
He wasn't exactly a thread anyway. He was just shooting the ceiling. And hey, it did work. Took him out immediately without having to kill him, so that guy must have known what he was doing. It hardly matters though. There much bigger holes than that.
Posts: 1287 | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
They didn't know that. They heard gunshots, they saw a shooter, they had no idea what he was planning. He was a threat. You neutralize the thread.
But yeah, there are holes that are bigger I guess. Seeing him alive at the end was just such a surprise and frankly I thought a bad ending that the whole ridiculousness of the situation eats at me.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:In other words, they hid the detonator in a trumpet, and when someone plays the right note, the bomb goes off.
That seems rather unnecessarily...elaborate.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Blayne Bradley
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posted
The bomb was an brand new undetectible kind of bomb that resembles a crystal, its about the size of a rather large diamond with the explosive ability to a very large amount of C4, 1 crystal = 1 football field.
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posted
Let me guess: The movie ends with the Beef jumping onto Yoshi and riding him all the way to the Mushroom Kingdom!
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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