Eye in the Sky

How can you tell when you’re getting old? When every actor/actress or musician you’ve loved since you were a child starts dropping off the planet like flies. In just the past few months, notable legends like David Bowie, Scott Weiland, Phife Dawg, Professor Snape, and Punky Brewster’s dad have all died and gone on to Hollywood heaven, leaving behind only their STD infected lovers and their performances on VH1 Classic for us to remember them by! Now I could handle Punky’s father going but not Hans Gruber; that was just too much!! So you’ll just have to forgive me if you were the one who heard me quoting every line from Die Hard the second I saw Alan Rickman come on screen in Eye in the Sky. I couldn’t help myself, the guy was an icon and his presence instantly gave this "the questioning of assigning value to human life" movie credibility.

Sky is yet another movie that attempts to tackle the issue of morality when it comes to the use of drones in warfare. Now I’m not here to talk about what side of the fence I fall on when it comes to this issue but I find it hard to criticize someone who is in the unenviable position of deciding when and how to use these devices for the common good. Is it worth the collateral damage of 5 to 10 lives to save the lives of hundreds? Well this movie allows you the opportunity to debate it for roughly 90 minutes without having to worry about being yelled at by some old dude who has obviously had way too much scotch to drink.

In Sky we meet Col. Katherine Powell (the still sort of hot Helen Mirren); she is charge of a mission to locate and capture 3 of the top 5 terrorists in Eastern Africa. They are responsible for a number of suicide bombings that took place in public venues like malls that have killed hundreds of people. And on this particular morning they have just executed an undercover British agent who was sent in to gather information and keep them from bringing in new recruits. This agent just so happened to be one of Powell’s men so she now has added incentive to bring these people to justice.

She, along with her superior Lt. General Frank Benson (Rickman), have been tracking these terrorists for six years now and they have finally gathered the intel that will give them the exact whereabouts of their next recruitment meeting. So they have set up a mission to raid and capture their compound and have reached out to the U.S. to be their eyes in the sky with the use of our drone technology. Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) is the lead drone pilot for this mission and he is in direct communication with Powell every step of the way.

Well as is normally the case, the intel wasn’t 100% accurate and the meeting with them is moved to another location, one where the Brits can’t send their people in without inciting an all-out fire fight in the streets with the Somalian soldiers who are guarding the meeting. The collateral damage would be too high and it would increase the chances of the terrorists escaping. So now they have to explore the options of using the drones to bomb the compound and take out the people inside.

As they debate, you see all of the red tape they have to go through to get the purpose of the mission changed and you also see how afraid those in charge are of making a decision for fear of the backlash that could come down on them if something goes wrong. And to top it off, there happens to be an innocent little girl who is simply selling bread just outside of the compound. Paul is delaying the strike for as long as he can to give her the opportunity to get out of harm’s way. So the debate is on, do they hold off the strike because of the possible collateral damage (including that of the girl) or do they strike with the hope of saving the lives of the people that these terrorists are sure to take.

For this movie being 75% talking, it’s actually fairly intense, and that’s 100% due to the fact it’s actors deliver with their performances. It never really takes one side because it shows you both the benefits and the downfalls of both options. I just loved the fact that in every scene involving an American, our reaction was universally "Of course drop the f’n bomb! What are we even debating?" America F&% Yeah!!!

By the end of this film, whatever preconceived notions you had about the use of drones in fighting terrorists and the decision making behind it will at the very least be slightly altered. And that’s what I love about this film, it makes you uncomfortable and forces you to think. I rate it as FRESH!