"EYE IN THE SKY� DVD REVIEW BY Phil Seahorn philseahorn@gmail.com www.facebook.com/seahorn epublishing www.facebook.com/phil seahorn\ TWITTER:@PhilSeahorn
August 31, 2016
UK release banner
Gavin Hood
Directed by
Produced by
Ged Doherty
Colin Firth
David Lancaster Guy Hibbert
Written by
Helen Mirren
Aaron Paul
Alan Rickman
Barkhad Abdi
Jeremy Northam
Iain Glen
"HIS CITENZENSHIP DOES NOT PROTECT HIM." "LEFTENANT, YOU HAVE CLEARANCE TO PROSECUTE THE TARGET." "FORIEGN SECRETARY, IT IS OUR TASK TO MAKE THE RIGHT MILITARY DECISION.WE CANNOT ENGAGE IN AN ARGUMENT ON POSSIBLE FUTURE POSTINGS ON "YOUTUBE "! "COMMANDER, REVOLUTIONS ARE FUELED BY POSTINGS ON YOUTUBE." "NERVER T ELL A SOLDIER HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE COST OF WAR."
IT IS ABSOLUTELY NO SURPRISE TO ME AT ALL THAT "THEY" NOT ONLY DID NOT NOMINATE THIS MOVIE FOR A WELL DESERVED "OSCAR", BUT "THEY" DID THEIR VERY BEST TO DISTRIBUTE THIS MOVIE AS SMOOTHLY AND AS NON CONTROVERSIALLY AS THEY COULD THRU THE LATE WINTER/ EARLY SPRING 2015-2016 MOVIE ROLLOUT FROM HOLLYWOOD.
THE BEST DESCRIPTION OF THIS DVD COMES FROM THE INCREDIBLY SEXY, BEAUTIFUL, AND GETTING FINER AS SHE GETS OLDER HELEN MIREN: "THIS MOVIE WILL DEFINTELY OPEN UP CONVERSATION." ONLY PROBLEM WAS, IT DIDN'T.BUT IT IS ONE HELL OF A DVD. But then again, I don't know WHAT the fuck this DVD was trying to be. I initially thought "Eye In the Sky" would be simply an updated rehash of
“Enemy of the State”
the movie that came out twenty years ago starring Will Smith and Hollywood treasure and legend Gene Hackman. So, did not go to see “Eye” in the movie theatres. Actually picked it up at the Spokane Library, another treasure for up to date print and DVD content. Wish I had went to see this. Man, was I not surprised that "they” did not go near this DVD, before or after movie release in theatres. And by "they", I mean the motherfuckers in the U.S. government who are recording innocent Americans in their homes in 2016, especially Labor Day, 2016 because of the recent unrest here in the U.S. (Check out my FB
Seahorn Epublishing” for my notes from ‘THE SNOWDEN FILES”, which pretty much is the “smoking page at:
gun” on drone surveillance as well as every other surveillance going on right now, every day, of innocent Americans.)
And therein lies the flaw with this DVD. "Eye In the Sky" is EXTREMELY timely today in America in 2016 on a scale that instantly would mark this film as an
"American must
see movie." The premise of the DVD is simple: drone warfare from the Western countries is so precise that it can kill from a distance of 5,000 miles away. This tech has killed innocent people all over the world. The extremely fucked up, ominous, and quite frankly evil way that western powers (shown in the DVD as a joint United States/British military anti-terrorist operation) is doing this killing is the point of the script. The script is one of the best ever written, and deserved Oscar nominations. It ("Eye in the Sky") is a script that is at one an action movie, a war movie, and an incredibly psychological/moral DVD, all rolled up in performances that, again, merited Oscar nominations. The DVD also incorporates an effect not often used anymore because of digital and Photoshop:
LIGHTING.
The filmmakers put an incredible amount of detail and creativity in adding lighting to specific aspects of the DVD, making the storytelling that much more riveting. The scenes of domestic life in a Muslim extremist country that is severely being under 24/7 365 surveillance by U.S. and British military for possible suicide bombings is extremely stark: metallic grey white shine and brightness, almost glowing. Even interior shots of the "primitive and dark society of cultural repression and violence" is projected in full sunlight and brightness. This lighting element is used to show the utmost irony and dichotomy of life in this environment of fucking incredible repression of women and other societal "black sheep" under radical Islamist "Sharia Law�. A scene in the DVD shows how fucking crazy this way of life truly is: so severe as to solicit admonishment for a little girl playing with a hula hoop inside her own home by her father at the behest of a Muslim fanatic who was visiting.
The opposite lighting techniques are used for all the interior shots of the U.S and Britain joint military operations. These scenes were framed by opening shots in the DVD of the U.S. military and British military antiterrorist heads taking calls to order while in the middle of the night. The allegory of demons emerging from the night to wreak havoc is not lost. These shots are dark and grey, reflecting , again, the dichotomy of the joint military operations of the British and U.S. in fighting terrorism and the deaths of innocent Muslims by offering freedom and "light" to the darkened Muslim world of extremists who would brainwash people to strap bomb vests on and dismember children. The acting in the DVD are all Oscar worthy, even from "Crybaby” Aaron Paul. (Don't you find people with the first and last name being both first names kind of, well, creepy?) I feel sorry for Aaron Paul. OH sure, he's richer than shit thanks to his crying and wailing and acting like a bitch for all those seasons on
"Breaking Bad.", but I hope he invested wisely. "They" tried to do with Paul what was done with his co-star of "Breaking Bad". Except "they" failed miserably. Just check out the DVD cover for the flick with him as lead about him being the racing something or other. Check out the pose on the cover of the DVD from Paul. Right, you probably have no fucking idea WHAT THE FUCK I’m referring, too. That’s my point. However, in this Paul gives one of his best performances as a conflicted drone pilot ordered to make a drone strike from 3,000 miles away to blow up a little girl. The location shots of the Muslim east African village are shot in light so stark as to give the village a feel of almost being like something scene thru sunlight glare. Again, light and dark used as a narrative. The editing of the movie is razor thin in detail: wide shots which immediately transition to narrow, focused, full facial shots. This gives the
actors really good windows to "show out", which the actors in this DVD do. It is always a pleasure to see Alan Richman on screen. Most of the generation today born 15 years ago only know Rickman from the
"Harry Potter" movies. But those of us older film fans know him as the quintessional "Euro trash" villain of
"Die Hard."
Rickman again is cast in a role of dubious moral character: in this DVD, is he villain or patriotic hero? Rickman is even given the best line in the DVD, which is the exchange between him and the chancellor of foreign affairs for Nato. Rickman, as the British commander of the joint British/American drone task force waiting for a drone strike that he wants desperately but cannot give the command, gives the Oscar nod performance. You really don't know if this cat likes blowing up shit 3,000 miles away or is he a patriot and soldier "just following orders?" All drones (I did not know this) video record the entire mission in which it is sent on. Now this makes PERFECT sense, considering how much money military strategist pay for military Intel. Raw data like a video of a drone mission from beginning to end. If video from the drone strike in this particular instance of the script plot in the DVD were to be released to the public and the internet, it would cause an international shit storm. A Western country killing innocent Muslims in a western friendly Muslim country. Fuck that it would stop innocent Muslims from getting blown to bits by fanatics in bomb vests. Politics are politics. Which is aptly displayed in this incredible DVD. The DVD is a class act, but a controversial class act. Overall, a must buy and own. Could not resist this one final missive: as in the DVD
"ENEMY
OF THE STATE" that came out twenty years ago with Gene Hackman and Will Smith (believe it or not), the ending of this "Eyes" DVD should be remembered for the final scroll of the DVD that ends the "Enemy"
DVD: "
"The technology in this movie is ten years old."
Think about THAT shit when you watch “YE IN THE SKY" in front of your wide screen government camera, er, I mean television on Labor Day, 2016. SEAHORN MOVIEMETER:
solid "B” ”for being an
incredible DVD find, and for showcasing just how invasive and powerful drones and surveillance are in 2016. Could have gotten an "A" if the script had not COMPLETELY mislead the viewers that drones cannot see into homes. The tech displayed in this DVD is absolutely the same tech that American bad cops in 2016 are using to spy on innocent Americans in their own homes. Think about THAT shit on Labor Day, 2016 in front of your widescreen, too.