Is your cell phone friend or foe? Don’t ask Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf), who, shortly after his twin brother dies, starts receiving calls on his cell, demanding that he complete all manner of dangerous tasks, immediately. It becomes apparent that someone very powerful is watching his every move, and if he doesn’t obey, the consequences could be fatal. The first call ends with “Jerry Shaw, you have been activated.”  All over the U.S., other random, seemingly normal people are getting similar calls, and they realize that they are all playing a part in some sort of nationwide, evil plot.

As with all good thrillers, the plot has to be sophisticated enough to be believable, and Eagle Eye fits the bill. Every day most people’s pictures are taken multiple times, by traffic cameras, surveillance cameras, ATM cameras and more. And heaven knows how secure our wireless phones, email accounts and web browsing habits may or may not be. It’s this paranoia that fuels Eagle Eye, a rousing thriller that’s long on action and short on character development, but with enough frantic car chases and plot twists and turns, you probably won’t miss the lack of personal detail.

Michelle Monaghan (Made of Honor, Gone Baby Gone, Mission Impossible III) plays the single mother who is drawn into the web through her cell phone. Michael Chiklis is fun as the US Secretary of Defense. Billy Bob Thornton plays an FBI investigator with a heart, and Rosario Dawson is a button-down Air Force official. They are, of course, constantly in danger, and believe they’re on the brink of solving the violent puzzle. I would have liked to see more of Chiklis and Thornton and a little less of Monaghan and LaBeouf, who, as leads, are not quite interesting enough to carry the film. But director D.J. Caruso, who worked with LaBeouf on Disturbia, and Executive Producer Steven Spielberg, who worked with LaBeouf on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, obviously disagree. My complaints are slight. Good, thrilling, sophisticated action is good, thrilling, sophisticated action no matter who is involved in it. Although, judging by the number of people who immediately turned on their cell phones to check messages the second the credits started rolling at the screening I attended, perhaps others weren’t as affected by the film as I was. I still haven’t turned mine back on.

Rated PG-13.

-- Lisa Johnson Mandell