However, there is only so far that passion and heart can take you.
#EYE FOR AN EYE 2019 MOVIE#
This is the kind of movie that I really wanted to like, since it seemed a project made with some passion, rather than a by-the-numbers studio product. In between those though, it didn’t seem to know what to do with itself. The opening set-up is, for all its flaws, put together quite effectively (though do the CIA really have formal “disavowal” speeches?”), and as mentioned, the ending delivered some sharp twists in regard to Stacey, not the least being her background. The pacing also seems to lag badly in the middle. Sturman gives it her all, bless her heart, but considering the frequent need for physicality in the role, it’s a character which really needs somebody like Amy Johnson or Zara Phythian. The non-digital stuff is nothing to write home about either, and the makers perhaps should have gone with a stunt woman for the lead. Even some of the rooms appear to have been done with green-screen work which fails to convince. Unfortunately, that sets the tone for what is to follow, with the production unable to deliver a convincing version of the explosions, gun-battles or blood squibs necessary to the plot. This is clear from the get-go, when the drone strike which almost kills our heroine in Tunis, is depicted with really bad digital effects. However, this is one of the cases where a film has aspirations which are massively beyond what it is capable of delivering. The script here is actually quite good, with a number of twists and turns I did not see coming, particularly at the end. Less expected: having to take her new fiance along with her. Fortunately, this wasn’t entirely a surprise, and Stacey is quite well-prepared. She is forced on the run, with Ken, while she tries to figure out whether it’s the Russians, or a rogue faction within her former employers. An assault on her workplace shows that someone clearly believes she knows more about the list than she admitted. Five years later, she’s a saleswoman for a PR company, and her boyfriend, Ken (Haymes) has just proposed, when Stacey’s old life comes back to haunt her. Stacey is disavowed by the organization, and dumped out, with a new identity.
When an operation in Tunis goes bad, she is blamed, and the intelligence which was supposed to have been collected – a complete list of Russian assets – goes missing. Stacey Anderson (Sturman) is an agent for the CIA.