In a small Oklahoma town, the local sheriff stumbles upon the traumatized teenager Tommy covered in someone else's blood. After the sheriff prods the boy, he learns that a young woman has been raped and murdered.
In a parallel story, Ainsley, a waitress at a diner, takes in and marries ex-convict Jack. Jack, whom Ainsley has been in correspondence with during his incarceration, has converted to born-again Christianity. A series of events explains how Ainsley and Jack's story intersects with Tommy's.
OnRotten Tomatoes, Eye of God has an approval rating of 75% based on 20 reviews.[3]
Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "A-" grade with the response, "Spare, elegant, and harrowing, this trickily plotted tale of murder within the desolation of small-town Oklahoma attains a disturbing power that can earn comparison with those true-life novels of American brutality, In Cold Blood and The Executioner’s Song", adding "The talented Plimpton has never been this alive on screen — she makes Ainsley’s very ignorance complex and alluring — and Anderson creates what may be the most vividly scary and authentic portrait of a sociopathic ex-con since Dustin Hoffman in Straight Time."[4]
Roger Ebert awarded the film 3/4 stars and said, "Martha Plimpton's performance is the center of the movie, quiet and strong",[5] and the San Francisco Chronicle opined, "Moody, sympathetic and shot through with a sense of apprehension, Eye of God marks an impressive debut for writer-director Tim Blake Nelson."[6]The Austin Chronicle gave 3/5 stars and wrote, "Despite the fact that the film's whole never quite equals its parts, Eye of God provides a fascinating ride and evocative glimpses of ordinary people in the throes of crisis."[7]
The A.V. Club commented, "Eye Of God is structurally reminiscent of Atom Egoyan's Exotica and as a whole, it has that film's detached, observant, strangely humane tone. But Nelson makes the material his own, and, in the process, creates a fractured tragedy that is one of the more auspicious debuts of recent years."[8] In 2013, the publication described the film as Nelson's best.[9]
