There’s a conspiracy alright. It’s that Eagle Eye has been remade. The irony of irony is that there’s a trailer for that film on this DVD of Echelon Conspiracy - which may lead you to a sense of déjà vu.
Max Peterson (Shane West) is a computer security analyst who gets a cell phone delivered to him. He’s given moneymaking and life saving tips from the anonymously delivered phone.
Winning big at a casino puts him in the sites of security officer John Reed (Ed Burns) and he’s being trailed by FBI Dave Grant (Ving Rhames). He begins to uncover a conspiracy that will lead him all the way to the United States head of security Raymond Burke (Martin Sheen).
If the plot of Echelon Conspiracy sounds vaguely familiar it may be because you may have seen it before. In fact, the trailer for Eagle Eye that precedes the film should give you a clue as to who or what is behind the conspiracy that Peterson finds himself enmeshed in.
The conspiracy may be that the makers of Eagle Eye might need to look into why this movie resembles their film so much. Too bad it’s more of a bargain basement version of it. It reminds me of another film production company that their “bread and butter” is to make films that ape current box office hits.
Echelon really doesn’t do much to improve over the film it apes and seems to falter, due to a lower budget, instead of moving above the copied material. This version (Eagle Eye 2.0?) does feature some European locations where the other film was set in the United States.
The cast has seen better days in their careers and no one really stands out from the material they’re handed. Not that Eagle Eye and Echelon Conspiracy didn’t conspire to copy from War Games to begin with.
Echelon Conspiracy is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. There are no special features except a gaggle of trailers that includes one for Eagle Eye.
Echelon Conspiracy does no better than the film it copies. It’s something you’ve seen before and with a bigger budget. The plot will have you more rolling your eyes than gasping at originality. You’ve seen it before, and done better before so you might want to rent one of those other films.
Echelon Conspiracy is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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