Momentum on all cylinders in ‘Eye in the Sky’
Unsettlingly urgent, “Eye in the Sky” seldom focuses on explosions for its many thrills, but still manages to ratchet them to a sweat-inducing level during its runtime. Thankfully, there are moments of comically human behavior scattered throughout that tend to allow us to shift back a few inches from our seat’s edge.
In present-day Nairobi, a trio of terrorists is meeting under the same roof. Since their nationalities are British, American and Kenyan, all three countries are maneuvering their chess pieces to capture them to stand trial. The mission is being led by UK Col. Katherine Powell (played by Helen Mirren), a hard-nosed commander who is not above nudging odds to favor her directives. Given the global implications of the procedure, her mission is also aided by an American Unmanned Aerial Vehicle that is stationed high above the city, armed and ready to engage. It’s operated by two young pilots, Steve Watts (played by Aaron Paul) and Carrie Gershon (played by Phoebe Fox), who are stationed in a trailer in the middle of the Nevada desert awaiting orders.
When it is determined that the terrorists are preparing to suit up for a suicide mission, everything changes from “capture” to “kill,” as they wish to prevent a detonation that could potentially injure scores of innocent civilians. This obviously changes the entirety of the mission, which must now seek approval from various players in the game, including prime ministers, presidents, secretaries of state and legal counsel. Their decisions are all awaited by a weary Lt. Gen. Frank Benson (played to beleaguered perfection by the late Alan Rickman, in his penultimate performance), who must have full clearance before giving Powell the OK to go forth with the new plan.
And there is much running to stand still. Just when the physical action comes to a standstill, the verbal momentum picks up and operates on all cylinders. Screenwriter Guy Hibbert has presented us with a situation in which a moral conundrum is smack-dab in the center - in the form of an innocent, ambitious Kenyan girl (played by Aisha Takow), who is selling her family’s bread on the street mere feet from where the strike is to occur. Both drone pilots get a clear image of her earlier in the day, naively hula-hooping in her backyard, providing an all-too-innocent picture for them to consider before they squeeze their trigger.
Concurrently, an exhausted Benson listens while the political hot potato gets passed around from country to country and ranking official to ranking official (some who must heed the call at the most inopportune moments). Rickman could have easily ridden this role into comedic “Dr. Strangelove” territory, but pulls back just prior to making a mockery of the process. And while the responsibility wormhole that the whole mission must travel seems chaotic, it’s often justified by the writers who explain the consequence of each and every action.
The same restraint is also used by Mirren, who could have been a one-dimensional, war-hungry military head. Instead, she plays Powell as more of a driven leader who has devoted the last four years of her career trying to track down this terrorist, and she’ll be damned if she’s going to let a piece of red tape hold her back. The rest of the performers are uniformly solid, especially Barkhad Abdi, a non-actor who was a breakout in “Captain Phillips,” and here proves he’s capable of delivering a greater range in the future.
The film’s smartest move is in painting each character with shades that are not sharply defined enough for a particular label (though some American leaders seem all-too-ready to just start firing at random). It’s a film that will allow passionate debate from different perspectives and demonstrates that even though the players may be a world away when they release their weapon, its impact will certainly be felt.
