Eye in the Sky

Katherine, a British colonel, in charge of a state-of-the-art multinational operation to eliminate Al-Shabaab terrorists in Nairobi, Kenya, is in a dilemma when an innocent girl enters the kill zone.

Review

I can easily summarize Eye in the Sky up with a single sentence; nail biting tension, great performances and thought provoking!

Now obviously that doesn’t make for a good enough review but I think you can get a sense of my thoughts for this movie.  I was surprised to learn that Gavin Hood was the Director as I must admit I have not been the biggest fan of his other movies (of the ones I’ve seen) mainly X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Enders Game as I found them boring with bad dialogue and some terrible CGI however, that is not the case with Eye in the Sky. 

Firstly, Eye in the Sky is only 1 hour and 42 minutes long, in this day and age the average runtime of a movie is anywhere between 2– 2 and a half hours long.  So this movie is fairly concise and although it has many moving parts and characters, it never feels rushed and as the audience I never felt confused with the story.  It does a great job of introducing characters and locations, enough to make you take notice and care about the severity of what’s happening.  It’s also refreshing to sit down, watch a movie and still have some time left in the day. 

The story starts by introducing you to Alia, a young girl living with her parents in a town occupied by a militia and the world building in the first act immediately creates a sense of dread.  Showing you how dangerous the area is, how the local residents are under constant threat and fear, and this will make you care for the family and their safety, building the foundations for the rest of the movie. 

I have always enjoyed movies that involves the audience and Eye in the Sky falls into that category as it raises some tough questions, conflicting arguments and makes you think about how you would handle certain situations.  The moral dilemma in the decisions that the characters have to make truly brings out some very strong performances.  Helen Mirren is a legend and as always is an absolute powerhouse on screen.  In Alan Rickman’s final live-action role before he sadly passed away, he’s captivating and reinforces why he was loved throughout his career, he also has the best final line in the movie “never tell a soldier he doesn’t know the cost of war”.  And the final mention is Aaron Paul who steals every scene he’s in, playing drone pilot ‘Steve Watts’, the emotion he conveys is incredible. 

The following phrase is one we are familiar with because it is overused in the world of movie reviews however, Eye in the Sky truly is a movie that has you on the edge of your seat! The high tension that builds throughout the runtime had me screaming at my TV which is the biggest compliment I can give, as that is what you would expect from a move in this genre. There are 2 scenes that stand out; when the battery dies on their drone and they lose visual at the absolute worst time and as we wait for smoke and debris to clear after a missile explosion.  Both scenes had me holding my breath and I’m confident that any one who watches this movie would have the same reaction. 

I’m not giving Eye in the Sky a 5 out of 5 because it’s not a masterpiece of cinema but it is undoubtedly a great movie.  I am also a big fan of the unexpected and the ending of this movie had me stunned.  I highly recommend you check this one out.