Drone-driven warfare keeps viewers on edge
Omniscient high-definition views from above have done nothing to penetrate the fog of war in Gavin Hood's drone drama Eye in the Sky.
It's a lean, Lumet-like thriller that puts the moral calculus of drone warfare in its crosshairs. Playing out compellingly in real time, a strike against Somali terrorists in Nairobi is plotted by the hawkish, UK-based Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren), whose operation involves pilots, politicians and military command in various digitally linked remote locations, from the boardroom to the toilet.
Drones have begun to reshape the war movie, and will doubtlessly continue to proliferate on our screens just as they have over Middle Eastern skies. Eye in the Sky follows last year's very solid Good Kill, starring Ethan Hawke as a drone pilot based in Las Vegas. Director Andrew Niccol's aim was principally about the psychological toll such disconnected battles take on its far-removed soldiers.
