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Thursday, May 9, 2024
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HOLLYWOOD EYE IN THE SKY
EDITOR'S PICK
'Eye
in the Sky': A playfully tense film (IANS Review, Rating: ***)
Rating:
***
"Eye in the Sky" is an engrossing and provocative thriller that
reveals; bureaucratic red-tapism and the moral dilemmas of those indulging in
military warfare. It also explores the farce regarding the price of winning the
propaganda war.
It dwells on the multi-nation efforts to fight terrorism, especially between the
British, the US and Kenyan governments, who constantly calculate the risks and
benefits of their respective military actions.
While the film is about drone warfare and its perils, what keeps you riveted to
the screen is the urgency of decision-making and the dilly-dallying,
non-commital and passing-the-buck attitude of the politicians.
This is a race-against-time film that shows how the scales of decision-making
waver.
Colonel Katherine Powell, a hardcore British military officer in charge of
Egret, an operation to capture a radicalised English woman Susan Danford and her
husband Abdullah Al-Hady, is tipped that the duo would be in suburban Nairobi to
meet some Al-Shabaab terrorist, who she has been pursuing for years.
But when the moment of capture arrives, Colonel Powell's plans abruptly change
when the technologically-advanced spy camera -- a cyborg beetle -- reveals the
devious plans of the terrorists. How she icily manipulates her way -- from
"operation to capture" to "order to kill" situation -- forms
the crux of the tale.
Helen Mirren as Colonel Powell, and often referred to as 'Mom' by her juniors,
is at her fiery best. This is probably one of her best roles till date.
Alan Rickman as General Benson initially sounds buffoonish when he resignedly
discusses dolls, but gradually he plays the sympathetic, caught-in-between note
to perfection.
Aaron Paul as Steve Watts, the drone pilot based in Las Vegas, responsible for
shooting, is sensitive yet over-dramatic. His moral and psychic toll on pilots
who engage in long-range warfare, killing people from a safe distance, seems
false and pretentious.
Barkhad Abdi who had earlier featured in "Captain Phillips" leaves a
compelling impression, playing a Somalian undercover agent with elan.
While the entire film pivots on an emotional note, it is Aisha Takow as the
little girl Alia Mo'allim, who steals your heart. Her demeanour and the
innocence in her eyes is what sets her apart.
In putting the whole legality of war against one singular military action,
director Gavin Hood and scriptwriter Guy Hibbert successfully create a war movie
that seems at once essential and distinctly individual.
But, while the motive is to capture the terrorist, the script does not show any
preparedness regarding the same and also the absence of the Kenyan government's
representative shows how lopsided the script is.
Visually, the film is compelling with Johnny Breedt's production designs, Mickey
Kirsten's special effects and cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos's camera work,
which include the spy camera footage which are put together by Megan Gill's
razor-sharp edits.
Overall, the film, though tense, has a notably playful flavour.
