A Taut and Modern Military Thriller
Gavin Hood's Eye in the Sky plays in moral gray areas all too appropriate for a war thriller made in today's political climate. The story follows four primary groups of characters: a British colonel (Helen Mirren) and her team overseeing a capture operation; British superiors, including the late Alan Rickman as a general; two members of the United States Air Force (Aaron Paul and Phoebe Fox) operating the drone providing a visual for the operation; and an operative (Barkhad Abdi) surveilling the situation from nearby. A careful plan and clearly-defined roles for the participants quickly change as their capture mission has the potential to turn into a drone strike, complicated by a civilian neighborhood and a little girl totally unaware of the militaristic machinations taking place up above and oceans away.
Director Hood and screenwriter Guy Hibbert start things slow, laying out the details of when and what the mission will be, and everything seems cut and dry. Mirren, Rickman, Paul, and company are all the good guys doing their jobs, but when the question of innocent casualties comes into play, nothing is clear or right. Hood and Hibbert do a spectacular job of weighing every detail, from the moral to the logical, making every voice both for and against a drone strike a valid one. The filmmakers are also not afraid to wrestle with even the muckiest of notions, having some characters look at the operation's fallout in purely political terms ("How does it look if this girl gets killed?").
Although the majority of Eye in the Sky is set indoors, with characters looking up at display screens of their target in South Africa, Hood and editor Megan Gill move the film along at a good clip, building tension without ever losing steam as the story heads for its climax. They also effectively cut between their various international locations with ease, never losing sight of the story's many moving pieces and characters.
The cast is uniformly excellent and perfect for their roles. Mirren exudes confidence and principle, yet as the person spearheading the operation she is desperate to get her target while she has the chance. Paul plays his drone operator cool and casual until the little girl becomes a factor, at which point the range and overbearing empathy he demonstrated on Breaking Bad are put to wonderful use. Abdi, likely known to most audiences as the lead pirate from Captain Phillips, strikes a nice balance here as the guy who has to blend in even as he's asked to start manipulating the pieces on the chessboard in increasingly dangerous ways. Rickman, who makes his last onscreen appearance in this film, plays his general as calm and somewhat tired as he deals with red tape and bureaucrats getting in the way of a simple decision. Though not a remarkable role when stacked against Hans Gruber and Severus Snape, Rickman plays his character as someone who's earned his rank and commands authority without barking orders—and even adds a bit of humor in the face of what's unfolding—and that ease with which he performs makes it a fitting farewell.
From beginning to end, nothing feels falsely manipulated or sensationalized for dramatic effect in Eye in the Sky. The characters are consistently true to their respective natures despite rapidly changing circumstances. Drones are nothing new in movies, but rather than use them as a tool in a story, the filmmakers have decided to build their story outward from the many moral and legal questions raised by using them, and it's that commitment to complexity that makes the film so engaging. This isn't a story about heroes. Eye in the Sky excels at wading into gray areas, and that uncertainty in the face of great danger is a thrill to watch unfold.