Eye in the Sky could not be timelier if it tried. The film focuses on one event and almost in real time takes us through the process of how an international military coalition would orchestrate and execute a drone attack on a terror leader in Kenya. This is a film that captures the battle for the heart of modern warfare and how the technological advances that make surgical assaults easier, have also made them more morally complex, and simultaneously emotionally distant and disconcerting. .
Helen Mirren stars as Col. Katherine Powell, an UK military officer who has been on the prowl of one of the world’s most wanted terrorists for some time. She has intel, from the air and on the ground, which clearly states that he will be in a home in Kenya at a certain point on this given day. When he shows up, she has the U.S. military’s best drone fighters (including Aaron Paul) in Nevada ready to strike from afar.
There’s one problem. A young girl sets up a bread stand outside of the house where the terrorist is meeting other evil doers and a discussion about collateral damage commences… and does not cease for practically the entire film.
Many things complicate the issue, as anyone who has experienced can tell you – war is anything but black in white. But what Eye in the Sky does so brilliantly, is show that there are a multitude of layers of grey in today’s military landscape that makes it not as simple as telling your soldiers to fire or stand down.
It is the Brits who are leading this charge, with Mirren’s Powell someone who has been on this terrorist’s trail for some time. She reports to Lt. General Frank Benson (Alan Rickman, in what would sadly be his last role) and he is the one who is communicating with the higher-ups in the UK government. Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force has people they’re reporting too as well – all the way up to the White House.
With the arrival of the little girl on the scene, complications mire the operation and thus cause the delay in attack which we see painfully playing out in real time. Director Gavin Hood does a stellar job in building suspense, complete with the ebbs and flows of the will they or won’t they on this attack. Clearly, Hood knows that those witnessing this film do not want the attack to go off while collateral damage could be so heartbreaking. But, as is pointed out so many times in the film, do we want headlines damning the west for their killing of one little girl or headlines demanding why more wasn’t done to stop a mall bombing that claimed hundreds?
There is no easy answer and Eye in the Sky never provides any. In fact, it is the type of film that will stick with you for weeks, even months after witnessing it. There is much to discuss after the credits roll. Anyone who has any type of opinion on what their nation does militarily or diplomatically needs to watch this film. It is the world we live in now. Technological advances have made it safer for our soldiers, but more complex in so many other ways for the rest of us.
The film is a full-charged roller-coaster. Regretfully it stalls a bit in the middle of the second act, before finding its legs again and racing towards its conclusion.
Mirren is her usually astounding self. She is riveting as a military expert and we could not be more thrilled that the gender of her role was changed when she expressed interest in playing the Colonel. How her character is wired is front and center. She only knows one way and that’s the military way and her frustration with how advances in warfare have made things complicated, is palpable.
Rickman should be proud that this film serves as his final work. He is bloody brilliant and yes, he’s a military man. But, as we see, he is also a father to a little girl and this particular situation hits him right in the heart. He plays it with power and classic guarded military-British emotional fortitude.
Ultimately, audiences will be divided on how the attack or lack of attack plays out in Eye in the Sky. But, come to think of it, with so many opinions on the fate of the world floating around these days, which is hardly surprising. It is welcoming and as we stated, Eye in the Sky is about as timely as films come. In fact, it is that and so much more — powerful, explosive, emotionally charged and haunting beyond belief.
Grade: A-