Release Date:  September 26, 2008

Rating:  PG-13 (for intense sequences of action and violence, and for language)

Genre:  Thriller

Run Time:  118 min.

Director:  D.J. Caruso

Actors:  Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Billy Bob Thornton, Michael Chiklis, Rosario Dawson, William Sadler

Last year, director D.J. Caruso and star Shia LaBeouf had a hit with Disturbia, a reworking of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window.

The duo have paired up again for Eagle Eye, a techno thriller that tries to meld social critique with popcorn thrills. The result is an unsettled, ultimately unsatisfying mix that gets by on the energy of some breathless action sequences until it resolves the film’s central mystery—the identity of the protagonists’ tormentor. Unfortunately, this two-hour-plus film has a long way to go after that revelation.

LaBeouf stars as Jerry Shaw, a customer service rep at the local Copy Cabana who lives in the shadow of his recently deceased brother. The film also introduces Rachel (Michelle Monaghan), whose family life has strains of its own:  She’s a single mom struggling to do right by her young son.

The two characters are thrown together when they each answer cell phone calls directing them to carry out specific tasks. The mysterious female voice on the other end of the call offers neither Jerry nor Rachel an opt-out:  If they choose to disobey, they face mortal consequences.

The only context hinted at for the dangerous mission is provided in the film’s opening moments, when the U.S. president orders the bombing of a suspected Middle East terrorist despite far less than 100 percent certainty that they’ve targeted the right individual.

Soon a cache of weapons and explosives shows up at Jerry’s apartment, and his meager bank balance surges to $750,000. Before he can process everything that’s happening to him, he’s taken into custody as a suspected terrorist and interrogated by agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton). However, Jerry’s mystery woman has other plans for him. He’s soon in the same car as Rachel and at the mercy of the commands (“turn right NOW”) of his cell-phone companion. The woman controls their phone, the traffic signals and pretty much everything electronic—not to mention the fates of the lead characters.

The early chase scenes are edited in a jarring, hyper manner that may not have any effect on a younger generation of viewers accustomed to such things, but viewers who grew up before the MTV era will be shell-shocked by the frantic visual style of these sequences. Admittedly, these scenes include some spectacular, if pointless, moments of destruction, but if it’s action thrills that viewers want, then Eagle Eye delivers in the early going.