Written by Jennifer
March 28, 2009
If Stephen King has taught us anything, it's that damaged people do not do well when snowbound in the far reaches of Colorado.
Eye See You is a dumb name for a movie. That's all there is to it. A name like that brings two things to mind: Direct to Video and B-Movie. The film's alternate title, D-Tox, is equally awful, and sounds like it should chronicle Heavy D.'s adventures in rehab. As a result, Eye See You will probably never be taken seriously, and millions of people will miss out on all the super-exciting action.
There's a certain formula to the Stallone movies I like, and while I always enjoy him, I can't get too worked up unless he is heartbroken, alone, and in peril. Eye See You delivers on all fronts. This time Sylvester stars as Jake Malloy, an FBI agent hot on the trail of a sadistic killer. He's having trouble cracking the case, but things couldn't be better on the home front. In fact, he's decided it's time to pop the question to his cute girlfriend, Mary (Dina Meyer). After picking out an engagement ring, he gets caught up with the boys at the local watering hole. He gets home late, and decides to save his proposal for a more appropriate time. Sadly, the killer calls from Jake's house the very next day, and Mary is ripped from his life forever.
At this point, the search for the killer is beyond personal, but Jake is unable to hold it together. He blames himself for Mary's death, insisting that if she'd never met him, she'd still be alive. Crippled by guilt and grief, Jake finally slits his wrists and waits for the end. I don't know what it is, but nothing is more attractive to me than a big, strong police officer who can't get over the loss of his one true love (see Lethal Weapon, and the episodes of 21 Jump Street following the death of Penhall's wife). This time, our hero doesn't just flirt with suicide, he actually takes the plunge. Lucky for us, someone finds him before it's too late.
Pale, despondent, and bandaged, Jake is packed into his friend's Jeep and taken to an experimental rehab facility specifically designed for cops who have suffered emotional trauma. It's an ominous looking structure located in the middle of Snowy Nowhere, and anyone in their right mind would look at that place and think of one thing: The Shining. If Stephen King has taught us anything, it's that damaged people do not do well when snowbound in the far reaches of Colorado. Unfortunately, the program is headed by a laid-back psychologist played (appropriately) by Kris Kristofferson, and we can't expect a stoner like him to have learned a single thing from the master of horror.
Life in detox is bleak to say the least. The building is hollow, dark, and leaky, and the sleeping quarters resemble jail cells. With a blizzard constantly raging outside, disaster seems imminent, and you just know that if something goes wrong, it's going to be impossible to get help. Poor Jake keeps waking up with nightmares, and even asks one of the nice lady doctors to sit with him—just like a little kid. Awww. Unsurprisingly, he's the most normal person in the program. The brilliant Jeffrey Wright plays an officer disfigured after shooting himself in the face, Robert Patrick's character is prone to unsettling angry rants, and the others are all in similar states of mental and physical disarray.
This environment is enough to make anyone want to suck a tailpipe, so when one of the patients is found dead, everyone assumes it was suicide... When a second body appears, the patients begin thinking like cops. Jake quickly realizes that the killer he'd been tracking has followed him right into rehab, and that one of these patients is not who he seems to be. Tensions mount to an almost unbearable level as tempers flare, suspicions shift, and power fails. Will Jake Malloy avenge Mary's death and save his own soul? Eye couldn't wait to see.
