Eye in the Sky (2015)

I didn't check, but "Eye in the Sky" looks like based on a play written for theater ... despite taking place in 4 different locations simultaneously. It's a situation thriller - short development, confined medium, closed context, time limit. No, I'm not describing "Phone Booth" ... but if we take the overall look we're not that far. A unit surveying the terrorist activity in Kenya gets activated when there's a report on several wanted names planning to meet in a hous in the area. Among these a British woman and an American citizen apparently prepare a suicide bomb attack. This information is provided with help of latest tech = a remote controlled "bumblebee". That's squad 1 - team on location. Squad 2 controls an airborne drone - "the eye in the sky", via satellite, and is formed of two US based pilots. Team 3 is somewhere in UK in a military unit coordinating the operation and led by Hellen Mirren. Finally, the 4th group is the decision committee = a gathering of British government representatives watching the events and sending approvals (or not ...) via an army general for actions to be taken. Quite complicated setup, isn't it?

Well, the plan is simple - a Kenyan special forces squad waits for an order to proceed in capturing the target group, but until they get a confirmed id the group moves to a different house. In a hostile area, where the only solution seems to be a well-placed rocket ... but the rocket will bring collateral victims ... and among the victims "the eye in the sky" detects a child, a girl selling bread ... So, it's complicated again.

All the movie is a cat and mouse game in the above context. Lots of irony to the politic class for the incapacity of assuming responsibility. Lots of criticism to the army forces for possibly rushed decisions. Although the ending might seem clear, if you look at the action up to there I don't know if you can give a simple answer on "who is right" ... this seems to change a lot up to the end. And that's probably the most interesting part of the movie ...

Rating: 3 out of 5