The Book of Eli Movie Blurb by Shale January 23, 2010 I didn't get to the Cineplex last week when this movie opened and it was not too well received by over half the critics. I didn't actually plan to see it but was just going to the movies to have an excuse to get out and ride my bike. Done this before; arrive at the Cineplex and see whatever is playing at the time. Today that was The Book of Eli. You know from the trailers that it is a post apocalypse tale, where the few remaining humans are scavenging for existence in a desolate (and colorless) world in which we find Eli (Denzel Washington), a man with a mission. He has the only existing Bible and is now following divine instructions from voices in his head to take the book out west. ELI'S LONG WALK THRU THE WASTELAND The voices have also assured him that he will find protection in his mission, and this becomes apparent when he meets up with unsavory, murderous, thieves on his journey and manages to dispatch them in a 6 to 1 brawl. ELI TAKES ON HIS FIRST SIX KILLERS Eli's journey takes him to a semblance of a frontier town, a fiefdom run by Carnegie (Gary Oldman) who is one of the few literate people from the old world. He is a minor despot who controls the town with his armed henchmen and controls his blind wife Claudia (Jennifer Beals) and her daughter Solara (Mila Kunis) by being a polite but abusive brute. Carnegie has been searching for The Book, knowing that the words in it can help him control the people and expand his power. CARNEGIE AND HIS GOONS TRY TO TAKE THE BOOK FROM ELI Well, you guess the outcome of that encounter. Eli continues on his journey but ends up traveling with Solara who has run away from Carnegie. ELI AND SOLARA ON THE RUN I can understand the critic's problems with this movie and it is a rather strange tale. It surprised me by actually being a religious movie while at the same time having all the violent martial arts scenes. While It brings to mind so many other post-apocalypse movies, I kept thinking of the 1970 El Topo an art flick, Mexican Western with its lone gunman who is on a spiritual quest. Adding to the effect of a near colorless palette were the streaks in the film that I saw today. I don't know if something was wrong with the film but it looked like one of those old, worn black & white movies we saw years ago. I don't think it was intentional but it seemed to fit. So, if you like Denzel Washington, he looks good in this movie. If you like post apocalyptic stories of dysfunctional civilization this one is OK. And if you like a story of religious conviction with a dab of divine intervention, that's here too. I enjoyed it, but I was just getting out of the house.
Going to see it this weekend. I'm a big fan of Post-Apoc films, ever since Vincent Price in The Last Man On Earth (later remade as The Omega Man, with Charelston Heston) I saw that the critics were pretty hard on it, but I'm pretty sure my love of the genre will pull me through.
A Boy and His Dog During Eli's stay in the town, he is kept in a room that was part of a movie house. Besides film spools laying about, there is a movie poster on the back wall. The Movie Poster is on the Far Wall Sort of an inside joke I suppose that the movie was A Boy and His Dog, a 1975 post apocalypse movie written by Harlan Ellison. This is the Movie Poster I saw this movie in theater and for those who weren't yet born, let Wikipedia clue you to the similarities of the two movies. The year in which the film takes place is 2024. The few survivors who remain above ground must forage and fight for food, clean water, clothes, weapons, ammunition and women. Here is where our stories part and this one becomes a quirky, dark comedy Of these necessities, women are the rarest; most survivors are male because while the males were off fighting in the wars, their enemies bombed and destroyed their homes. Among these survivors it has become a rule of dog eat dog. The main character, Vic (Don Johnson), is an 18-year-old boy born in 2006 in the ruins of Phoenix, Arizona. Vic concentrates on stealing food and fulfilling his sexual needs. He is quite base, because ... he has no formal education and doesn't understand ethics or morality. Satisfying his carnal desires remains Vic's main motivation throughout the story. He is accompanied by a well-read and wise-cracking telepathic dog named Blood, an "experienced female provider" by his advanced senses of smell and hearing. Blood's main motivation is food, notably popcorn (his favourite) which Vic is able to provide by theft or by purchasing from various vendors in the wastelands. Blood needs Vic because, as a side-effect of the genetic engineering which gave him telepathic abilities, Blood does not have the instincts to forage for food. I forgot all about this flick and think I would like to see it again. Gonna look for it on DVD. But, I thought it was amusing to see the movie poster in the background of this latest post apocalypse flick.
A Boy and his Dog is one of my favorite movies. The change from above to below(you know what I mean) in the latter part of the movie was surprising and very good. I suppose not many here have seen it, but I definately recommend it. Beats the hell out of the Mad Max series of films and is quite unique.
I remember A Boy And His Dog. I saw it long after its theater run, on late night TV. Gonna have to check out Netflix and see if they have it. EDIT: Sweet! They have it available on "Play On Computer". I can stream it right now.
Wow, I had totally forgotten about that twist ending in A Boy And His Dog. And Eli was okay. It didn't really bring any new angles to the post-apocalyptic story. The religious element was a bit too underdeveloped to be the focal point, but it had a nice twist at the end and some pretty impressive fighting choreography.
Ok, so a lot of movies are up for interpretation, and I interpreted it a bit different from what all the movie sites talk about. (im not saying they're wrong, but I just took a different take on the movie). In my opinion, I don't think the message was "religion will save the world." I think the opposite... and to me the fact that Eli was blind was symbolic to "blind faith". And just like how he recited the bible from memory and the curator guy copied it down without second thoughts.... Who knows, Eli could have got things wrong or made stuff up, but know one knows for sure. Just like how in the European dark ages, the bible was translated and wrote differently many times and things were taken out... the end result was probably so much different than how it started out. This part is from IMDb.com: "Eli and Solara are escorted onto the island where the curator, Lombardi (Malcolm McDowell) explains that the island is more than a museum-- it is where he and all of his followers work to store and collect all of the knowledge, arts, and other remnants of human culture before the apocalypse, as they can, with intent to, when they are ready, share it with humanity so they can begin to re-learn all that they lost. They have collected large amounts of literature, but were missing an intact bible-- until now. Eli says his bible is 'beat up, but will do the job.'" So now that they have a Bible...which was written down according to Eli...they can use that to 'share it with humanity so they can re-learn' it. But to me, this is where 'blind faith' comes in. The people are just going to trust this bible. And also, (i only saw this once, so im not sure what part and who said it, but..) some one said something along the lines that part of the reason of the huge war had to do with what was contained in the bible in the first place. And all these killings are taking place all to either keep or gain in possession the bible. In fact, the main tagline (according to IMDb) is "Some will kill to have it. He will kill to protect it." Also, "Claudia tells [Carnegie] that he's sacrificed so many men, so many of his guards and enforcers for the book,....Feeling satisfaction at how close Carnegie is to something he's fought so hard for and sacrificed so many lives for, only for it to be the same as if it were a million miles away, Claudia walks away, leaving Carnegie". All of that for a book that is supposed to 'save humanity'. However, Carnegie seemed to want it so he can use it to control the people in his community. This is just my take on the movie...like I said before, Im not saying Im right and everyone else is wrong...this is just how in interpreted it. Im always up for a discussion too....
Like your review threads.. I gotta question tho. *SPOILER* Why don't anybody read except Denzel and Gary? Nobody else seemed to read, or have any interest in reading. How did they have the privilege of reading and not others?
I think they implied that when civilization collapsed most ppl died off. Only those with grey hair from the old world knew how to read and it wasn't a priority of the young when you were scrounging for food and water and trying to survive to learn how to read. Sorta like the Dark Ages after the Roman Empire fell. Very few ppl read in those times, only the monasteries preserved that skill - copying the Bible by hand mostly.
