Catch-22
Rotten Tomatoes Plot: Eye in the Sky stars Helen Mirren as Colonel Katherine Powell, a UK-based military officer in command of a top secret drone operation to capture terrorists in Kenya. Through remote surveillance and on-the-ground intel, Powell discovers the targets are planning a suicide bombing and the mission escalates from "capture" to "kill." But as American pilot Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) is about to engage, a nine-year old girl enters the kill zone triggering an international dispute, reaching the highest levels of US and British government, over the moral, political, and personal implications of modern warfare. Directed by Gavin Hood.
Eye in the Sky opens with Aeschylus' "In war, truth is the first casualty," then proceeds to ask its audience, "Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?" There's plenty of suspense throughout, led by military leaders Mirren and Alan Rickman (in his final role) a slew of incompetent politicians incapable of making decisions, and an innocent child stuck in the middle. Some choices are easier than others, and I could do without the mushy Paul & Phoebe Fox (crying... really?) but I applaud any film that manages to hold my attention from start to finish.
Grade: B
