Dame Helen Mirren is back on the big screen in a role originally meant for a man.
In Eye in the Sky Dame Helen plays a hard-nosed British military commander in charge of a drone strike.
Played out in real time, Eye in the Sky finds Dame Helen at her most inscrutable, at the helm of a global operation to capture a group of known terrorists in Kenya.
Under her command are Kenyan troops and agents on the ground in Nairobi, and American drone pilots with hellfire missiles at their fingertips in Nevada.
Hampering her decision-making is a room full of lawyers and politicians, none prepared to bear the hefty weight of responsibility that modern warfare waged remotely brings.
Negotiating between all the factions is the late Alan Rickman as Lieutenant-General Frank Benson. He knows how badly Colonel Powell wants this strike. He knows his war on terror is as much propaganda as it is firepower.
Who deserves to die and who deserves to live? And who pulls the trigger?
Small yet perfectly formed, Eye in the Sky is a tension-filled gut-punch of a geo-political war-on-terror thriller.
Intimate yet expansive, delicate yet explosive, with excellent performances from the entire cast who maximise every single frame of their screen time, it's a must-see.
Four-and-half stars.
Eye in the Sky:: Director: Gavin Hood :: Starring: Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman, Iain Glen, Barkhad Abdi:: Rating: M - Violence and offensive language:: Running Time: 102 minutes:: Release Date: In cinemas now
Newshub.
