Diagonaldi Very well executed
Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.
Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
ne Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
bettycjung 6/30/18. Way too slow in its brooding approach to the moral consequences of drone warfare. It looks like they reused the explosion footage 10x. No kidding. Talking about low budget. This movie is almost the same as "Eye in the Sky" with Helen Mirren, which was much better in generating suspense and questions about why we should ever resort to drone warfare. Why not just have video wargames replace real warfare why you're at it.
Andrew Wade I had very low expectations of this film, expecting a sanitized Hollywood "product" with a toothy pilot bravely quitting his job on the one freak occasion that he's ordered to do something morally questionable.It wasn't like that at all. In fact, he's ordered to do something morally questionable almost on a daily basis. And he does it. Every time. And then he goes home to his wife. Day after day after day. The film bears a strong resemblance to newspaper articles I've read about drone pilots - who reportedly, do indeed go off the rails due to the corrosive nature of the work, ie, either killing from a safe distance or watching powerlessly as allied troops are attacked themselves (by IEDs - the closest thing the enemy has to drones).This film does a great job of depicting the disintegration of Ethan Hawkes' mind as he's continually ordered to commit what are, by any definition of the word, war crimes. Even if you still agree with the war, by the end of the film you'll be thinking "This is not a job for a normal human being. This is a job for psychopaths or possibly artificial intelligences".
dale-51649 The film is about a drone pilot played by Ethan Hawk who feels conflicted about killing people with drones , half a world away. It could have been an interesting film, allowing us a glimpse into a world we have heard about but have never seen. However, it devolves so blatantly into the Hollywood mantra of today "Women and kids are worthy, men don't matter"The subject matter regarding a person struggling with his ability to kill people at his fingertips is handled halfway decently, and we see Hawk and the other pilots worry about killing women and children several times. However, consistent with American culture today adult men are portrayed as expendable, all probably guilty of something. When they blow up a house or group, there is always supposedly good intelligence guiding the decision to kill them. Obviously serving as judge, jury and executioner for large groups is going to raise the possibility of error. Not only do they only seem to worry about the women and children, but they insert an awkward subplot in which a bad guy serially rapes a women, and then they kill him surgically . Of course, the female victim narrowly escapes injury or death, and as the smoke clears a small, innocent child runs into her arms, Ummmmmhummm....Since the bad guy was not an identified target it is a vigilant kill. However, there is no consideration of their accuracy in determining his guilt, and if it is mistaken identity- oh well...... a pilot conflicted by the killings can sleep well that night anyway. It seems contrived and simplistic, but consistent with a disturbing trend that violence is justified as long as it's against men, because we probably did something to deserve it.
LeonLouisRicci Director Andrew Niccol is one of the Best Unknowns working Today. His Films Gattaca (1997) and Lord of War (2005) are Excellent, Underseen, and Underrated.Here, He once Again Dives into highly Controversial Topics of the Day with No Easy Answers, just Disturbing Questions. The Escalating use of Drones by the U.S. in the War on Terror is the Subject that is addressed here through the Mind of a Fighter Pilot, now Assigned to a Joystick.He is Antsy, and Unable to Accept His "New" Place in the War. There are Pros and Cons about the Tactics and the Technology giving Balance that Keeps it from overt Anti-Drone Propaganda. The Film stays Grounded through the also Troubled Home-Life of Ethan Hawke's Air Ace with Tension midst the Relationship with Wife January Jones. Bruce Greenwood is Hawke's CO and adds a thread of Military Dedication and Patriotism to the Unraveling Tapestry of the Real Life situation.Overall, it is a Disturbing and Unfulfilling Movie because Nothing is Really Resolved in the ongoing and daily Routine of the 21st Century Chaos displayed Nightly on the News. What Makes it a bit Different is the Drone Strikes (in real life) are Never Dwelt upon or Detailed in the Media, Rarely getting More than a Mention. It's mostly Run by the Spooks at the CIA.This may be very Abstract to the Average Citizen in 2015, but one wonders just how real the Terror will become when Drones are Available at Wal Mart. We then might also be "Praying for Grey Skies".The Film is Thought Provoking and Topical and can't be ignored. It's a Film that by Nature is Not Really a War Movie, but it is Certainly about the new "War on Terror".
