The second collaboration between teen actor Shia LaBeouf and director J.J. Caruso after the successful DISTURBIA proves to be another variation of the Hitchcock formula.  Like REAR WINDOW is to DISTURBIA, THE 39 STEPS forms the bases for EAGLE EYE, though updated for current events.

Like both movies, EAGLE EYE has a protagonist, Jerry Shaw (Labeouf) on the run – though for different reasons.  A girl, Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan from THE HEAETBREAK KID) is dragged in for romantic interest.  The climax takes place again during a music performance when a specific note is to be played, in this case by the girl’s son.  The story is also more complicated then necessary with twin dragged into the plot, bureaucracy in the form of humour in the form if Agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton) and countless additions to plot detail. The film is also very technical to cater for the new computer generation.

No complaint that EAGLE EYE will no doubt please teens and action fans, but all the special effects and technical fireworks cannot hide the fact that EAGLE EYE comes across as nothing more than a conventional thriller rip-off.