I wasn’t planning on watching this movie. I got it out of the library because I heard that Helen Mirren and Alan Rickman were contending for acting awards. I had no idea that Eye In The Sky would wind up being one of the best movies I’ve seen this year.

I love it when stories can be so simple and yet so utterly profound. The whole thing centers around one question – are they going to fire the missile or not? Nowadays, there are so many action movies with one explosion after another that just feel stale. Here, the tension derives from whether or not we are going to see one explosion. And somehow, it works.

I think one of the main reason this film succeeds is because of the editing. Major props to editor Megan Gill, who hasn’t done much except for this and one of the Wolverine movies. I hope she continues to get more work, because the editing in this movie is absolutely flawless.

The whole ensemble does a good job, working off one another very well, but no one in the cast really gets any big ‘acting’ scenes. I suppose that is for the best, to add to the realism of this situation. And I want to give a shout out to Barkhad Abdi, an incredible actor who I hope to see in more movies.

I genuinely think that this is one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. It’s a shame that this hasn’t gotten more awards attention. It’s absolutely gripping down to every last minute but also manages to be genuinely tear inducing. I’ll admit, it’s a little hard to explain why it works so much. This is one of those movies you just have to see for yourself.

*****