Eye in the Sky

With his seventh movie, South African film-maker Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, Ender's Game) confronts the hot-button topic of drone strikes in a manner that's fittingly clear-eyed. Helen Mirren's steely colonel is the remote commander of a joint UK/US mission aiming to capture key terror targets, while Aaron Paul (from TV's Breaking Bad) is the US pilot operating the armed drone. By focusing on a single mission, the film explores in depth the issues at hand. British screenwriter Guy Hibbert considers the legal restrictions, political implications, tactical arguments and moral quandaries relating to remote warfare and fashions them into a narrative of nail-biting suspense. And there's humour from Alan Rickman, in his final on-screen role, as an exasperated general. It's only a shame that it feels the need to hammer home its compassion during a sentimental dénouement, as it's already made the point effectively by then.