Eagle Eye

Eagle Eye, the new star vehicle for Shia Lebouf, tries very hard to not only be an action movie, but an action movie with a relevant message for our time about the loss of privacy and government overreaction.

And that would have been nice if the message wasn't beaten over a head near the end with characters giving nauseating didactic messages.

At least, the movie works well as pop entertainment, messy and forgettable the moment you walk out of the theater.

Shia Lebouf is Jerry Shaw, a charming slacker who wiles his days playing poker with his friends, working at a dead-end job at a Kinkos-like copy store and struggling to pay his rent. He also just buried his twin brother, who was in the military and much more ambitious. Then one day, Shaw goes to the ATM and finds $751,000 in his banking account. Soon, his apartment is crammed with boxes filled with weapons and he winds up in the custody of the FBI. And worse of all, a mysterious woman keeps calling and telling him to do various things like jump out of a building and slam his body to the floor before something crashes through the room he is in.

The same mysterious woman is calling Rachel, played by Michelle Monaghan, also telling her to do certain things or her son will die.

For awhile, the action is breathtaking as the two dodge bullets and end up in bruising car chases, with a cranky FBI agent played by Billy Bob Thorton hot on their tails.

Director DJ Caruso ratchets up the action here, obviously getting his tips from quick-cutting king Michael Bay. The result is shaky camera work, confusing audiences about what actually is happening on screen. Not a good thing. Felt like being on a bad roller coaster ride than watching a thrilling action movie.

Thank God Shia Lebouf has such a likable quality, a quick-wittedness and Joe Blow relatability that you find yourself rooting for the guy even in a movie as wacky as this one.

The plot meanders a bit before getting to its central thesis about the dangers of government having too much surveillance. Will Smith's Enemy of The State covered similar territory in a much better way.

And it's sad that the ultimate villain here takes its inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Oh, no, the computer is going to get me. Please, let's get a grip.

Here's how you enjoy Eagle Eye. Don't think too much either during the movie or immediately afterward. You'll only be disappointed.

The Family That Preys

Tyler Perry is not known for being subtle. Far from in fact. His movies, many based on his popular gospel plays, are soap operas with plenty of broad over-the-top comedy, often featuring Perry as big-busted, pistol-carrying Madea, his most famous character.

Madea is nowhere to be found in Perry's latest creation, The Family That Preys (and if you didn't get that play on the word pray, well, you might need prayer).

The film centers on two families, one working class and the other wealthy. Charlotte, played by Kathy Bates, heads up the wealthy family, running a successful construction firm and butting heads with her spoiled son, William, played with snarling charm by Cole Hauser.

Alice (portrayed by the always wonderful Alfre Woodard) runs a diner and tries to instill old-fashioned values into her two daughters. Sanaa Lathan is Andrea, a financial accountant at the construction company who is carrying on an affair with William. She also chooses to run down her hardworking husband, Chris, who has dreams of starting a construction business of her own.

With all of this Dynasty-like drama going on, Charlotte decides this would be the perfect time for her and Alice to on a road-trip to see the country. So amid the seriousness, we see Charlotte trying to get Alice, the teetotaler, drunk, and then we see Alice drag Charlotte to get baptized.

There are no real surprises in Tyler Perry's movies. We know something is wrong with Charlotte. We know that all the secrets are going to come out. And we know someone is going to get slapped or punched or get hot grits thrown on them.

Perry isn't a sophisticated story-teller and doesn't deal well with complexities or nuances. He does, however, know what his audiences want and he delivers that with panache.

His movies are filled with messages of hope and faith and he has become better at delivering those messages without the heavy-handedness of his previous efforts.

And this time, he builds on the success he had with Why Did I Get Married instead of the clunker he had with Meet The Browns.

But he still has a way to go as a director. In this movie, we have long camera sweeps that seem to go nowhere but eventually find their way from one character to another, as music swells. He goes the other extreme of director Michael Bay, who is known for cutting his scenes so much that if you blinked you'd miss most of the movie.

Those technical flaws don't much matter to Perry's core audience. When my friend and I saw the movie, a woman talked throughout, like she was at home looking at one of her favorite afternoon soaps. She talked back at the screen, cheering on Charlotte and calling her Big Mama.

Good entertainment with a message. What else can you ask for?