Who would have thought that the old strangers-meet-to-save-the-world plot is still a valid idea for filmmakers? Well, “Eagle Eye” tries to prove it still works, but critics say that it fails catastrophically, as the whole technological craze is rather hilarious as well.

Just like the previous movie directed by D.J.Caruso, “Disturbia,” was a bit of a patchwork, borrowing from Hitchcock’s “Rear Window,” as well as “Psycho” and “Poltergeist,” “Eagle Eye” mixes a little "2001: A Space Odyssey” with “WarGames,” “Demon Seed,” "The Man Who Knew Too Much" and "Enemy of the State," as well as many other movies about terror, politics and computers gone wild and looking for world domination (cartoons also frequently use this plotline).

The movie first shows two completely unaware anti-heroes: Chicago copy-store employee Jerry Shaw, played by Shia LaBeouf (star of "Transformers"), the black sheep of his family, a wanderer, a college dropout late on his rent and a loser, compared to his identical twin Ethan, an Air Force officer who just died mysteriously in a car accident and Rachel Holloman, played by Michelle Monaghan, a single mom who just put her young son on the train from Chicago to Washington, D.C., where his school orchestra is scheduled to perform at the Kennedy Center.

They eventually end up together, as they are directed through their phones, as well as any other electronic device, even the LED readouts on signs in the passing-by windows, by a unknown female voice, actually a malfunctioning supercomputer called ARIA. The electronic villain is using a recent error in judgment by the president as an excuse to kill off the chain of command from the top down so as to put the secretary of defense (Michael Chiklis) in charge of the country.

ARIA makes the copy-store boy look like a terrorist to the FBI, as he finds himself with his bank account miraculously packed with $750,000 and his apartment fully equipped with weapons and chemicals, all the evil computer’s doings.

Federal agent Tom Morgan, played by bad-boy Billy Bob Thornton and Air Force investigator Zoe Perez (Rosario Dawson) are sure there's a connection between Jerry's terrorist activities and his late brother’s death.

The two catch Jerry, of course, but he manages to escape and his only chance is to obey the wacky machinery’s threats. He is forced to pose as a terrorist threatening to derail the train carrying Rachel’s son, Sam, while the mother herself receives similar commands from the voice on the phone, which she has to follow, if she cares for her son’s life. She and Jerry cross paths and team up, obeying the voice in attempt to save themselves, as well as the little boy who got caught-up in the computer’s schemes.

The movie is only recommended to ultra-high speed car chase fans and to Spielberg’s devotees, as all the rest is old news digitally enhanced and packed up with paranoia and international intrigue badly written.