Eye in the Sky

This was the final live action role of the late Alan Rickman. That fact alone made me want to see the movie since I've always been a big fan of his. It's been getting good reviews and I can see why. Eye in the Sky is such a tense, well made movie and it's easily one of the best I've seen this year so far. 

The movie stars Helen Mirren as Col. Katherine Powell. She has a mission to capture terrorists in Kenya but it quickly turns from capture to kill when it's discovered that a suicide bombing is imminent. Things get complicated when a young girl enters the kill zone just as pilot Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) is about to strike. The choice of wether or not to go through with it has huge implications. 

Let me just start off by saying that if you go into this expecting some military action movie where a lot of shit blows up then you'll be disappointed. This is not one of those movies. A lot of it is people either sitting in a room or on the phone/computer talking, debating, and strategizing.  And you know what? I'm totally fine with that. I actually think it works better that way. 

Director Gavin Hood (who after seeing this I can't believe is the same guy who did X-Men Origins: Wolverine) has created a very tense, thrilling movie that presents both sides of the argument well. Do they cancel the mission and save the life of an innocent young girl, while potentially hundreds die in a suicide bombing? Or do they go through with it and the girl probably dies, which would be a PR nightmare. Either way they're fucked. 

The acting in this was outstanding. Helen Mirren can do no wrong. Alan Rickman plays Lt. General Frank Benson and he was great as usual. His final scene and line of dialog had me in tears knowing that this would be the last time we actually see this wonderful actor on the big screen (he has two more movies coming up but in those cases he did voice work). 

The movie does drag a little bit at the beginning and there are a few rough spots with the dialog but it's nothing that should stop you from seeing it. 

Eye in the Sky is a smart, thrilling movie that will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end. Just be prepared for a downer. It's one of those movies that's very good but so depressing that you'll need to watch several comedies just to cheer yourself up. I highly recommend it. 

My Rating: 9/10