Eye in the Sky (2015)

Col. Katherine Powell, a military officer in command of an operation to capture terrorists in Kenya, sees her mission escalate when a girl enters the kill zone triggering an international dispute over the implications of modern warfare.

Director:

Gavin Hood

Writer:

Guy Hibbert

Stars:

Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman

3 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Faisa Hassan	...	Fatima Mo'Allim
Aisha Takow	...	Alia Mo'Allim
Armaan Haggio	...	Musa Mo'Allim
Helen Mirren	...	Colonel Katherine Powell
Bob Chappell	...	Simon Powell
Alex Gallafent	...	Reporter
Aaron Paul	...	Steve Watts
Babou Ceesay	...	Sergeant Mushtaq Saddiq
Carl Beukes	...	Sergeant Mike Gleeson
Kate Liquorish	...	Female Sergeant
Richard Stephenson	...	Staff Sergeant
Gabriella Pinto	...	Female Corporal
Tylan Wray	...	Male Corporal
Hossain Dahir	...	Driver One
Mondé Sibisi	...	Muhammad Abdisalaam

Storyline

Colonel Katherine Powell is a UK-based military officer in command of a top secret drone operation to capture terrorists in Kenya. Through remote surveillance and on-the-ground intel, Powell discovers the targets are planning a suicide bombing and the mission escalates from "capture" to "kill." But as American pilot Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) is about to engage, a nine-year old girl enters the kill zone triggering an international dispute, reaching the highest levels of US and British government, over the moral, political, and personal implications of modern warfare.

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Plot Keywords:

drone pilot | aerial surveillance | drone warfare | rules of engagement | top level terrorist | 

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Taglines:

Welcome to the new front line.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violent images and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site Official site [Japan]

Country:

UK Canada

Language:

Somali English

Release Date:

1 April 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Enemigo invisible

Filming Locations:

South Africa

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$113,803, 13 March 2016, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$18,700,837, 17 July 2016

Company Credits

Production Co:

Raindog Films,Entertainment One

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Surround 7.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Helen Mirren's role was originally written for a male actor.

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Goofs

Lt. Colonel Ed Walsh (Gavin Hood) incorrectly pronounces the words "wind-up the pilot" however only when correctly pronounced "wind-up the pilot" does the screenwriter achieve the intended meaning of "to get someone excited" i.e. "wind someone up" - - - the word "wind" needed to be correctly pronounced as the phrasal verb "why-nd" - - - unfortunately "wind" was incorrectly pronounced by Lt. Colonel Ed Walsh (Gavin Hood) as the noun "win-d" meaning "a current of air moving approximately horizontally, especially with enough strength to be felt" - - - NOTE TO IMDB STAFF Unfortunately imdb.com does not accept any of the special Unicode Characters that are required to be used to correctly pronounce "wind", SO I HAVE IMPROVISED - - -

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Quotes

Lt. General Frank Benson: Never tell a soldier that he does not know the cost of war.

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Crazy Credits

In loving memory of Alan Rickman.

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Connections

Featured in Eye in the Sky: Perspectives (2016)

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Soundtracks

Nude Dancing
Written by Gabriel Previtera (as G. Previtera) / Paul Hepker (as P. Hepker)
Performed by zelig
Featuring Abashante
Courtesy of kekila music

User Reviews

Nail-biting drama... But the film's morality is more dubious than it recognises

Director Gavin Hood's previous film, the underrated Ender's Game, focused upon the increasingly virtual, high-tech surveillance and disengaged nature of modern warfare. These elements of Ender's Game are clearly visible in the director's latest thriller offering, Eye in the Sky. The story here involves disparate groups of military and political personnel scattered around the world, all watching the live stream of a terrorist compound in Nairobi and debating whether or not to fire a drone into a heavily-populated ethnically Somali suburb of the Kenyan capital.

The operation is shown to be a joint British and American backed mission and the debate revolves around the collateral damage a drone strike would cause. The collateral damage is given a human face through a young girl who has set up a bread stall near the compound. Eye in the Sky's original title was "Kill Chain" and the reasoning becomes evident as the rest of the film involves people referring up the chain of command to avoid making a decision. The running time consists mainly of people talking to each other on phones and via video screens, however Hood manages to make these scenes some of the tensest, most cinematic, Skype calls you will ever see.

Eye in the Sky highlights the "hawk" and "dove" nature of the politicians of the two countries involved, one memorable scene being the US Secretary of State angry that his game of table tennis is interrupted because the British are dithering. However, the film's demonstration of realpolitik was weaker and has been presented far more successfully in Armando Iannucci's In the Loop, a film based on the run-up to the Iraq War. The film also lacked any strong, coherent argument against the drone strike apart from the contrived little girl selling bread nearby; not touching at all on the long-term consequences of dropping a bomb on a Somali suburb. The film reduces the complicated morality of drone warfare to a simplistic choice: it's either this little girl or a terrorist attack in a busy shopping mall. There's no concern however for civilians nearby who aren't cute children, or that the potential civilian casualties from this attack could be used by Al Shabab to garner more support amongst the population.

Alan Rickman is fantastically dry in his last on-screen role as a British Lieutenant General and Aaron Paul is also very impressive, despite spending the majority of the film in a Portacabin with his finger hovering over the trigger. But while Eye in the Sky may be one of the year's most gripping thrillers, the film's morality is more dubious rather than ambiguous.