U.S. Navy pilots Ben Gannon (Josh Lucas), Kara Wade (Jessica Biel) and Henry Purcell (Jamie Foxx) are part of a close-knit elite division of test pilots flying highly classified stealth fighter jets, referred to only as Talons. They're the best of the best and they know it. Then their commanding officer Captain George Cummings (Sam Shepard) introduces the team to their new wingman--an artificial intelligence-based UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle), nicknamed "EDI." Although Ben is hesitant about taking "the human pilot out of the equation of war," Cummings orders the team to execute their first real mission alongside "EDI." To their amazement, "EDI" proves to be a cracker-jack wingman and they successfully eliminate their target. But on the return trip to their base aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson, "EDI" is struck by lightning. The drone's brain expands in ways its creators could never have predicted. Despite Ben and Henry's reservations, Cummings declares "EDI" ready to rejoin the team in the air. On their next mission against a nuclear-armed warlord in a remote Chinese province, "EDI's" seriously compromised circuitry problems only get worse. Ben decides that the risks of the attack far outweigh the benefits to himself, Henry and Kara (for whom he has developed a romantic attraction). When he aborts the mission, "EDI" goes against orders and executes the hit anyway. The danger escalates when "EDI" decides to execute a top-secret mission that, if successful, could spiral into worldwide nuclear Armageddon. And only Ben can prevent it.

Simply put the movie is a dud. There just simply isn’t enough story to flesh out a movie about a haywire plane that decides to bring war on us all. So to make up for the lack of story the movie invents little subplots that do nothing for the movie other than try and distract us from an overload of computer generated imagery. The distraction doesn’t work as the movie easily also fails on the special effects side of it all as well. The special effects which the movie is banking itself on our clunky at best as they never truly envelop you in the world you are suppose to believe is possible. It doesn’t hurt that none of the characters ever manage to be likeable for you to actually cheer for them. I write the movies failure off too three things, first there is no story and what little there is, is forced and inane. Secondly the special effects aren’t impressive in any way or form. Thirdly the writers and director fail to interest you into what is going to happen to their characters mostly as a factor of the first two points.

I always wonder when I see movie with such weak stories and plotlines if the actors involved even bothered to read the script. Jamie Foxx has my highest respect as an actor with last years movies of Collateral and Ray which is why I find inexplicable that he would tie himself to such a turkey. Granted he was the best performance in the movie but still you want to see him in roles with more intelligence. Josh Lucas is another actor who has shown a lot of potential but doesn’t always deliver it just may be him choosing the wrong movies to star in. I am really finding it hard for me to find something good about the movie as it fails most miserably and might not even be worth a rental.

If anything the one thing that struck me and which might or might not have been intentional is the look on modern day war with the turbulent Iraqi war we are currently fighting. It is a scary thought that war could be reduced to a video game with smart technology and that any war hungry president ala President Bush could inflict countless harm on another country without any moral judgment. I think it must be hard for our soldiers over in Iraq to continue to believe in the cause they were sent over for as it becomes more and more obvious how wrong the invasion was to begin with. The Iraqi war has become another Vietnam and smart planes like the EDI would only compound the problem.
1.5 stars out of 5