Eye in the Sky
Bleecker Street | Release Date: March 11, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
32
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanApr 4, 2016
In a world full of recyclable superheroes and mindless “empowerment” comedies, we’re finally getting a movie about reality. We’re surrounded by surveillance and the threat of violence, and this film asks us to judge the proper balance between liberty and security – and the amount of collateral damage acceptable to maintain the latter. Read full review
95
TheWrapTricia OlszewskiMar 18, 2016
Mirren, as ever, is both polite and brusque, her petite va-va-voomness never undermining her credibility as a tough military top-ranker. And Rickman — oh, that dryly sarcastic voice. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattMar 9, 2016
Aaron Paul has key scenes as the drone pilot who actually has to pull the trigger, but it’s the late Alan Rickman, as Mirren’s superior, who steals the film. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen HoldenMar 10, 2016
A grim, suspenseful farce in which unpredictable human behavior repeatedly threatens an operation of astounding technological sophistication. Read full review
90
VarietyJoe LeydonSep 12, 2015
A rivetingly suspenseful drama that deftly intertwines elements of ticking-clock thriller and tragic farce. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 26, 2016
Eye in the Sky reminded me of "United 93" - not necessarily in terms of the subject matter but because of the apolitical, clear-headed manner in which it approaches an act. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonMar 17, 2016
This is the kind of intelligent, thought-provoking mainstream film that’s in danger of becoming extinct. Eye in the Sky is miles above the average multiplex flick. Read full review
88
New York PostLou LumenickMar 9, 2016
South African director Gavin Hood (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine’’) pulls off some really tricky tonal shifts. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallApr 1, 2016
Eye in the Sky remains gripping even when Hibbert tosses in one or two side-taking circumstances too many. Read full review
80
Total FilmJames MottramMar 30, 2017
Tense and thought-provoking in equal measure, this is first-rate – a modern-day Dr. Strangelove played out on video screens. Read full review
80
EmpireOlly RichardsApr 4, 2016
It's a tight thriller played out smoothly but tying the viewer in moral knots. A film to think about for days, with little hope of finding a comfortable answer. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Mar 9, 2016
As the colonel, Mirren is terrific — a fierce warrior willing to bend as many rules of engagement as it takes. As her commanding officer, the late Alan Rickman is just as dedicated but a little tired of bloodshed. Read full review
80
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 12, 2015
Eye in the Sky aims to thrill and covertly manages to inform simultaneously. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeSep 12, 2015
This picture satisfies fully on entertainment terms without cheapening its real-world concerns. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovMar 23, 2016
Eye in the Sky maintains nerve-racking suspense throughout its running time and explicates some of the unknown nuances of drone warfare. Plus, you know, Alan Rickman is reason enough to see it. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 5, 2016
Eye in the Sky is a tasty ticking-clock thriller parked at the intersection of politics and propaganda, military technology and combat morality. It’s not the first movie about the ethics of drone warfare. The low-budget nail-biter “Drones” beat it to the punch by a couple of years. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerMolly EichelMar 31, 2016
Mirren is icy and fierce. Rickman brings both levity and sorrow to his role as a soldier who has seen war from both sides: the conference room and battlefield. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerMar 24, 2016
The political buck-passing from all entertains and creates the film’s time-sensitive tension. Read full review
75
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerMar 21, 2016
It’s a film with no easy answers, and rightly, Hood doesn’t strain to offer them. If the film’s attempts at barbed satire don’t land as well as its graver moments, it’s nevertheless an effective look at the new kind of war. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 18, 2016
The acting is world-class in Eye in the Sky, a timely and tense but sometimes heavy-handed drama set in the modern world of drone warfare. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldMar 18, 2016
At times, the film approaches gallows comedy...perhaps a little too much so; at others, it’s a tense, chilling look at a seemingly unbearable choice — refreshingly, without telling its viewers what to think. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayMar 17, 2016
This is the rare military drama that conveys both the graphic physical effects of war and its lingering psychic cost. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 17, 2016
Eye in the Sky is refreshing in its lack of a political message. Mirren is chilling as the cold-blooded colonel. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 17, 2016
Its strength and limitation is that it’s a gimmick that works. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireMar 11, 2016
While Hood’s film says very little about American policy in this area, it does suggest that its terrible subject is likely to be with us for a long time to come. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversMar 10, 2016
The suspense is killer as military minds in the US and the UK come together only to lock horns on a drone operation in Nairobi. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineMatt BrennanMar 8, 2016
Director Gavin Hood treats the aesthetics of high-tech surveillance as the opaque membrane through which the prosecution of the War on Terror must pass. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 17, 2016
Subtle it's not, but the film is effective both as a thriller and as a war film with something to say. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'HehirMar 11, 2016
The conscientious precision and painstaking identification in Eye in the Sky is presented as morally murky; Mirren’s character leans hard on a subordinate to give her an acceptable estimate of collateral damage, so the politicians will say yes. Even so it may be an overly reassuring picture. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 10, 2016
Eye in the Sky is literally all over the map in its depiction of drone warfare, and right on target, if flagrantly contrived, in examining the ethics of killing by remote control. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubAdam NaymanMar 9, 2016
Like Brian De Palma’s underrated "Redacted," this is a film that doesn’t want to be easily pegged, either in terms of its politics or generic allegiances. Such ambiguity is a virtue, but for all his technical facility, Hood doesn’t really have the finesse of a great, fearless satirist. Read full review
67
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthSep 16, 2015
While certainly imperfect, there is something to admire about the film’s attempt to present the tangled logistics of a single military operation, where it seems everyone wants success but none of the responsibility of the tough decision making involved. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonSep 18, 2015
There’s wit, integrity and insight here, but it cries out for a lighter touch. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeySep 12, 2015
Eye in the Sky is a tick-tock suspense exercise as well as a neat little ethical echo chamber, a plea for reason in a world exploding too vigorously to give it the time of day. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedMar 10, 2016
Its eye is on the dirt floor of dullness. Read full review
50
The Film StageDaniel SchindelMar 10, 2016
The film insists upon its own relevance, but has none. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 12, 2015
While Eye In The Sky is effective in building suspense and making a talk-y drama compelling, these techniques are in service to high-minded, heavy-handed filmmaking that buries troubling wartime questions in simplistic rhetoric. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMar 31, 2016
Despite the occasional outbreak of tension, it all ends up becoming repetitive as Eye in the Sky gets bogged down in the morality of it all, spinning its wheels for long stretches. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMichael NordineMar 9, 2016
The problem with movies depicting the banality of anything, of course, is that they tend to be pretty banal themselves; in setting out to be the exception to that rule, Eye in the Sky only proves it. Read full review
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