It is very frustrating when a movie this good is distributed and marketed as clumsily as EYE IN THE SKY. Even the title is lousy. With the exceptions of ZOOTOPIA and DEADPOOL, the major releases from Hollywood this year have been astonishingly awful, and it’s a shame that so many people are going to miss this one.

Poor title notwithstanding, EYE IN THE SKY is excellent…

The premise is fascinating: It seems that, occasionally, foreign intelligence is a lot more James Bond-like than we know. Imagine if we could see into a home of terrorists as they suit-up for a massive attack and have the ability to strike, BUT civilian children are in the yard–what’s the official and legal operating procedure? Well it seems that happens to be murky territory as this film demonstrates in near real time while diplomats, lawyers and war hawks try to figure out their next step and its consequences. Riveting.

Helen Mirren is a totally kick-ass colonel who’s been tracking a set of terrorists for a long time and finally has a chance to take them out. Problem is, not everybody’s onboard with this, including the “shooter” based in Las Vegas (Aaron Paul from BREAKING BAD in his most successful big screen outing) with the ability to bring “hellfire” like a video gamer from a remote location. There’s also a fine performance from the “I’m the Captain now” guy from CAPTAIN PHILIPS, Barkhad Abdi. It’s nice to see Alan Rickman in his final screen role. He looks sick and weary (understandably), which suits the character he’s playing who is also very, very weary from a career in war.

This could have and should have been considered a very important and significant film release. Instead, it’s just sort of been dumped on the market without much fanfare while critics and audiences alike have praised it for excellence. I don’t get it. Very few movies manage to be importantly relevant, unique, informative and exciting at the same time. We should be supporting movies that accomplish this.

This would be a shame to miss.

(Loudinni specializes in movie reviews under 500 words, sans spoilers.)