Eye In The Sky (Rhoades)

Front Row at the Movies

“Eye in the Sky” Is Edge-of-Seat Thriller

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Drones the size of a fly? My spy friend Jim says they’re real but can’t go very far. Drones that look like hummingbirds? Yep, the military’s got those too.

However, those bigger drones, the ones that carry missiles and take out al-Qaeda terrorists, they can fly greater distances and be operated from halfway around the world.

These provide an “Eye in the Sky.” That's the name of the new Helen Mirren thriller playing at Tropic Cinema.

Here we meet Colonel Katherine Powell, a UK military intelligence officer. She’s working with Lieutenant General Frank Benson to track a couple of terrorists in Kenya. An American drone pilot is about to send a missile into the house where the targets are plotting a bombing.

But wait.

There’s a young girl in the yard playing with a hoola hoop.

Should they give the order to fire, accept the collateral damage of the girl? Or back off. Stuffy government officials offer little help in this decision.

What would you do?

Helen Mirren gives a stern-faced turn as Colonel Powell. Alan Rickman (in his next to last film role) is the grumpy general. Aaron Paul is the moralistic long-distance drone operator.

This is an edge-of-your-seat thriller about modern warfare -- well, at least the moral, political, and personal implications of it.

As the movie’s tagline says, “Welcome to the new front line.”

srhoades@aol.com