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There are few things I would wish more fervently than if movies like "Eye in the Sky," a cyberthriller in the age of terrorism, were no longer timely.
But with attacks in the news, as with this week's bombings in Brussels, and in our political discourse, we will need movies that examine the moral dilemmas of battling terrorism. We can hope that such movies are as smart, thoughtful and emotionally charged as this one.
The film centers on one skirmish in the war on terror — and since this is unlike conventional war, most of the combatants are far from the site of battle. Instead, they are in isolated rooms, looking at screens, directing actions from long distance.
From her military HQ in England, Col. Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) directs a mission to locate and capture terror suspects near Nairobi, Kenya — one of them a British national. At her disposal are a drone spy plane, piloted from a U.S. Air Force base near Las Vegas by Lt. Steve Watts (Aaron Paul), and a Kenyan special-forces unit ready to go in and arrest the suspects. The Kenyans also have on-the-ground observers, including a Somali (Barkhad Abdi) who can slip into the suspects' neighborhood largely unnoticed.
All of this is being watched from Whitehall, the seat of the British government, by several cabinet ministers and by Powell's superior, Lt. Gen. Frank Benson (Alan Rickman).
The drone is equipped with two Hellfire missiles, but this is a mission to capture terrorists, not kill them. The mission changes when the surveillance picks up something unexpected: two new recruits being fitted with suicide vests. Powell and Benson urge a missile strike before the bombers go somewhere crowded. The cabinet ministers, particularly one (Jeremy Northam) representing the foreign office, want approval from higher-ups.
The decision grows more complicated when Watts and his spotter, Airman Carrie Gershon (Phoebe Fox), notice a civilian — a 9-year-old girl (Aisha Takow) selling bread — has entered the potential blast zone. Then the ministers and officers debate an essential question of war: Is the near-certain killing of one innocent girl worth it potentially to save dozens of lives?
Screenwriter Guy Hibbert, who penned the Irish terrorist drama "Five Minutes in Heaven," conceives a drum-tight story that plays out in real time, as people on three continents weigh decisions that are literally life and death. (Tellingly, British pols and American troops are more hesitant about killing than American government leaders, who pop up occasionally to say, in essence, "What are you waiting for?")
Director Gavin Hood ("Ender's Game") neatly captures the claustrophobia of the moment and the pressures of people connected through technology but cut off from the world around them. He relies heavily on his ensemble cast, who come through expertly. The scene-stealer is Rickman, who died in January, and delivers in his final screen appearance a master class in perfectly calibrated sarcasm.
"Eye in the Sky" evokes the great war-room films of the Cold War, such as Sidney Lumet's "Fail-Safe" and Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove." Like those movies, this one entertains while also posing tough questions about whom we choose to kill in order to stifle our fears.
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'Eye in the Sky'
A drone observes a terror suspect, while officials in Britain and America debate the wisdom and morality of a missile strike, in this gripping thriller.
Where • Area theaters.
When • Opens Friday, March 25.
Rating • R for some violent images and language.
Running time • 102 minutes.