Student Film Review of the Week

In my film studies class one of the things I teach my students is how to write contextual film reviews where they connect what they've learned about film structure, the movie business, and other films to a contemporary film we're studying. The goal is for them to be able to write publishable film reviews. The following stellar film review is from ALEX HIPSHER, Junior, Period 4, Rancho High School:

D.J. Caruso's action packed thriller EAGLE EYE serves up an all-star cast and non-stop thrills. And this is about all it does. The movie was written by a group of writers, who, judging by the product they churned out must be currently undergoing treatment for their paranoid schizophrenia and epinephrine addictions. EAGLE EYE strives to be a technical thriller that serves to warn of the dangers of Big Brother and total information control. However, the supposedly terrifying examples it serves up, such as a power line severing and landing in the perfect location to kill a disobedient enlistee, are so patently implausible, the viewer has to seriously wonder if he's in fact actually watching a comedy. The setting apparently takes place in a universe where a giant machine named Ariia has gained sentience and taken up the task of restructuring the status quo. Ariia is apparently the daughter of 2001's HAL 9000, as her actions mimic his very closely. She even has his eye. It's a wonder Ariia didn't drunkenly mumble showtunes during her eventual demise. One thing's for sure, producer Steven Speilberg can expect a lawsuit for plagiarism from whatever layer of Hell Stanley Kubrick currently films in. All in all, Eagle Eye is an action packed, but preposterously written thriller. Its lack of regard for suspension of disbelief and its geniune attempt to deliver some sort of high handed lesson ensure that no great injustice will be done when it is eventually relegated to a dank, dusty corner of a Blockbuster near you.