by Devina

Welcome to one of the most morally confusing cinematic experiences ever.

Now, if you wanna hear Professor Snape talking – which was why I agreed to seeing this movie, go see it. You will go “oooh” and “aah” listening to him say anything.

So we are introduced to Operation Egret, a group of scattered people (really, geographically they’re all over the world) who controlled drones to spy on some of the top hunted criminals.

Their task was to capture, not to kill. And it was going well until they discovered that the group of criminals had suicide bombs prepared. It was in Nairobi, where people could not go around freely and patrols were always on watch.

The main pilot was responsible to fire Hellfire, aim it at the house and kill everyone there.

On the other hand, right outside their preparation house, there was Alia, a little girl who sold bread, and the pilot refused to fire unless the fatality for the girl was lower than 50%.

So they tried to get the girl to leave the location by sending one of their agents to buy her bread. However, things went horribly wrong and the girl was left on site.

“Who else can we send to buy the bread?”

It got interesting until it turned boring.

The real battle was the “Would you sacrifice a little girl’s life to save 80, or would you sacrifice 80 people for a little girl’s life?” that was going around the world.

I kid you not, this argument goes from one executive to another, to another, to the top of the chain who said, “Why waste your time asking me this question?”

Which was the question every audience was asking during the movie.

Why waste so much time for one simple task. Shoot or no shoot. One girl vs. 80 people.

And in the end of the movie, when they finally fired Hellfire after the longest short argument ever, the little girl ended up dead and the board members of Egret went home with trauma.

Of course, one of them challenged Alan Rickman’s character Lieutenant Benson before he left, “This was disgrace.”

To which he replied, “Don’t tell a soldier that he does not know the cost of war.”

Which seriously was the solution to this whole movie. They were held back from firing the drone missile due to that implication that the soldiers were heartless and they were too willing to kill a little child to accomplish a mission.

But soldiers were the most traumatized and damaged – they had been on the fields of battles, they had seen bodies scattered, blood splattered everywhere, and they had survived them all without losing their minds.

Yes, it is painful if we think about it and question humanity.

However, challenging people who know exactly the risks and cost to their decisions, people who are actually willing to deal with the aftermath, is a waste of time in times of emergency.

The actors did their best – some moments felt like a joke, but maybe they were meant to be there for comic relief. Perhaps. I’m not sure.

Aaron Paul as the main pilot killed me. He was convincing.

My mind was all over the place. To be honest, I think Egret was a messy operation. Either that, or maybe it was just under budget.

Well, I give this movie a 6/10.

It was a bit slow in the beginning, and I was like, “Why are they scattered? Who’s this? Who that?” but once everything was pieced together, it got more interesting.

If you’re into something fun and exciting, this probably isn’t the movie for you. But if you like movies that are intense and dragging – you into this state of “Will they will they not” questioning – then go for it.

To Alan Rickman, may you rest in peace. Will always love you, Professor Snape.