The Book of Eli

[Neil]

Saw this last night... Oh dear!

A promising work of apocalyptic fiction ruined by a bunch of silly fictional religious hoodoo!

[EvilNed]

Agreed on the religious bit. I wonder when people will just drop that. Other than that it was great.

[Danny]

I know this is a strange concept, but sometimes a post apocalyptic movie will attempt to have a plot, or say something about people thats not a "rambo in a world without cops" masturbatory survivalist fantasy.

[Neil]

I know this is a strange concept, but sometimes a post apocalyptic movie will attempt to have a plot, or say something about people thats not a "rambo in a world without cops" masturbatory survivalist fantasy.

And are you suggesting,"The Book Of Eli" was or wasn't one of these?

[Danny]

That's entirely up to you. It's just dispiriting that everyone on here always has the complaint about a movie in this setting being ruined by its plot. Because more often than not the movies are never great to begin with. Science fiction used to be a stage to be used to say something. Now people only seem to want resident evil extinction or some other thing where "the bullys and cops who gave me a ticket dont exist- or the law doesnt to stop me taking revenge because i would, like ,totally be badass pimp supreme".

It's exactly the same problem with zombie movies. People want a just-safe-enough escape fantasy into an environment requiring no social skills or confidence thats not involving shooting something from the barrel of a very large firearm.

Because its the plot. always the plot. You can make a film thats technically dogshit in every way but as long as the fantasy of being the "I AM THE LAW" wish fulfillment guy exists it will be lauded. Do anything else and its a terrible movie.

I fail to see this distinction. I'm just more aware of it every year when we get "guy walks through empty abandoned buildings with some oil drums with a radioactive symbol and kills everything he runs into" or "people trapped in a building by zombies argue" by the truckload its eaten up but anything to veer away from this is grand heresy.

[AcesandEights]

Jeez, well said Hellsing!

[shootemindehead]

Strangely enough, I enjoyed it when I saw it.

I'll have to watch it again and see if I can dislike it.

[JDFP]

I thought it was great, personally. It actually had a meaning and a purpose as opposed to "The Road" which just made me want to kill myself after watching it as being the single most depressing film I think I've ever seen in my life.

Neil you say the film is ruined by: "a bunch of silly fictional religious hoodoo!" -- I don't recall seeing any of this in "The Book of Eli" other than the main character having a conviction to save the specific book he was attempting to save. What exactly are you referring to by this as I missed it?

j.p.

[Danny]

Yeah see, i have no religious beliefs, dont even like it much but i dont let it alter my tastes in movie y'know? eli was about the dual nature of things, be it man or a single book which in the hands of one is a series of moral tales to teach you to better yourself, in the the other a weapon to raise a blind army with. Its not amazing or that clever but it was different and fresh and a second time around when you know the twist so much more of it makes sense.
Honestly i think its stupid to be put of a story involving religion if it aint preaching to you. like i said, dont like it, but we wouldnt have modern music or storytelling without it.

[MinionZombie]

Quite surprised you didn't dig it, Neil.

I rather enjoyed it and then got it on Blu-Ray a little while ago and really enjoyed it all over again. Visually it's utterly stunning, and while The Road was 'the apocalypse as it actually would be', Eli was 'the apocalypse as it kind of would be, with cool shit happening' ... and I dug the book being the Bible. I'm not at all religious, but I thought it was a simple - but powerful - central theme. How two totally opposing approaches to one text, in a world gone to the wolves, can battle over this for entirely different reasons.

The visuals and the soundtrack were just tip-top too, and it had the bonus of kick ass bouts of action - as well as some 'awesome movie version of an apocalypse' scenes going on, as well as some more gruesome aspects done with a more 'Mad Max' approach (the attack on the travellers on the road near the beginning, the cannibals etc).

I really dug it.

Although clearly Eli could see at the beginning of the movie, and you see his eyes at times throughout - so it's only at the end that he can't see and his eyes have become milky - so the 'he was blind all along' thing doesn't really work, if that is what was intended. Although the twist of 'the bible was in braile' was nifty.

[MikePizzoff]

I haven't seen The Book Of Eli, but I hear it's a bunch of people chasing one dude because he owns a copy of the bible? Pretty hard to believe considering it's [by far] the most widely/frequently published book in the world.

[bassman]

I haven't seen The Book Of Eli, but I hear it's a bunch of people chasing one dude because he owns a copy of the bible? Pretty hard to believe considering it's [by far] the most widely/frequently published book in the world.

I too have yet to see The Book of Eli, but what if it were similar to a Fahrenheit 451 situation? That seems totally implausible in reality, but in the world of science fiction anything is possible, you know?

[EvilNed]

I haven't seen The Book Of Eli, but I hear it's a bunch of people chasing one dude because he owns a copy of the bible? Pretty hard to believe considering it's [by far] the most widely/frequently published book in the world.

Pretty much yeah. The film falls flat on it's face and turns from pretty cool to really ridiculous with the flip of a coin. It gets even more ridiculous at the end, but you'll have to see it for yourself to find out. If one likes pretty visuals and nothing else, it's a go for Eli. But if you're in for substance or plot, give it a wide berth. It is rather ridiculous. I don't know what Hellsing is all about, but this film didn't really have much of a plot, and if the film tried to say something it wasn't very important. Infact, from my point of view, IF it tried to say something, then it had nothing good to say and it was a rather laughable attempt at it.

[Danny]

I haven't seen The Book Of Eli, but I hear it's a bunch of people chasing one dude because he owns a copy of the bible? Pretty hard to believe considering it's [by far] the most widely/frequently published book in the world.

IF memory serves the big nuclear war was instigated, or at least people worldwide believed it to be instigated by religion, i dont know if it was specifically christianity or all of them but apparently people made it there business after the war to destroy them all but eli has a copy, one he thinks is the last, and is taking it to alcatraz where they are archiving all important works of art and media. By the time of the movie, about 3 generations after the war no one has the knowledge or reason to care about the bible but gary oldmans character who is trying to set up his own kingdom of sorts is old enough to remember what the book is and the power of its words and plans to use it for obviously nefarious means.

Like i said its not amazing, but worth watching once.

[Mr. Clean]

Neil and Ned: How can you hate on a flick just because of religious theme? That's on the same level as if I called Boondock Saints a shitty flick because the FBI guy was homosexual. I don't agree with homosexuality but I'm not going to just jump up and say "oh yeah shitty homosexual movie" because that would be very ignorant of me to do so.

The book of Eli isn't a 5 star movie but it was pretty decent. It's worth at least a one time viewing.

A mad man looking for a Bible to control a city. 1 Bible left in the WHOLE world that's being escorted by a man with holy protection. One crazy twist in the end. Like I said, not that bad of a movie that's worth a viewing at least once.

Sorry if it feels like I'm trampling on people's views but when rating something; all bias information should be left at the door IMO.

[Neil]

That's entirely up to you. It's just dispiriting that everyone on here always has the complaint about a movie in this setting being ruined by its plot. Because more often than not the movies are never great to begin with. Science fiction used to be a stage to be used to say something. Now people only seem to want resident evil extinction or some other thing where "the bullys and cops who gave me a ticket dont exist- or the law doesnt to stop me taking revenge because i would, like ,totally be badass pimp supreme".

It's exactly the same problem with zombie movies. People want a just-safe-enough escape fantasy into an environment requiring no social skills or confidence thats not involving shooting something from the barrel of a very large firearm.

Because its the plot. always the plot. You can make a film thats technically dogshit in every way but as long as the fantasy of being the "I AM THE LAW" wish fulfillment guy exists it will be lauded. Do anything else and its a terrible movie.

I fail to see this distinction. I'm just more aware of it every year when we get "guy walks through empty abandoned buildings with some oil drums with a radioactive symbol and kills everything he runs into" or "people trapped in a building by zombies argue" by the truckload its eaten up but anything to veer away from this is grand heresy.

You're preaching to the converted here! I'm all for story above action and the like, but I;m afraid for me the religious stuff in The Book Of Eli just felt messy and a bit daft...

---------- Post added at 09:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:20 AM ----------


Neil and Ned: How can you hate on a flick just because of religious theme? That's on the same level as if I called Boondock Saints a shitty flick because the FBI guy was homosexual. I don't agree with homosexuality but I'm not going to just jump up and say "oh yeah shitty homosexual movie" because that would be very ignorant of me to do so.

The book of Eli isn't a 5 star movie but it was pretty decent. It's worth at least a one time viewing.

A mad man looking for a Bible to control a city. 1 Bible left in the WHOLE world that's being escorted by a man with holy protection. One crazy twist in the end. Like I said, not that bad of a movie that's worth a viewing at least once.

Sorry if it feels like I'm trampling on people's views but when rating something; all bias information should be left at the door IMO.

I don't hate it just because of the religious theme. I don't hate it.. I gave it a 6/10 on IMDB for example. I'm pointing out, that it felt promising but then the religious stuff felt out of place and somewhat poorly handled...

---------- Post added at 09:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:22 AM ----------


Like i said its not amazing, but worth watching once.

Agreed!

[Mr. Clean]

Fair enough, the word ruined made your review sound much worse.

[Trin]

If you love religious hoodoo driving a plot you should read "A Canticle for Leibowitz" and get your religious hoodoo on. It's a good book, but is centrally driven by religion. I have not watched Eli either but it sounds like it draws heavily from Leibowitz.

[DjfunkmasterG]

I liked Eli, and it was this bible plot that made me enjoy it so much because in a world like what Eli lives in the Bible can really either be the savior, or the executioner. It really depends upon whose hands it falls. Had Carnegie gotten his hands upon the book you can just tell how he would have used it... not to give hope but as control. If you put yourself into that world and listen closely to how Carnegie and Eli tell the story about The Flash it makes exact sense as to why the bible would be so important. I dunno, I dug it, I watch the BR at least every 2 months.... plus I dig the look and style.

FOr the filmmaker buffs out there... this movie was shot on the RED ONE CAMERA. I actually hated the Red until I saw this film, but the camera still isn't all that and a bag of chips. This was the only time out of 1000+ uses a decent and good looking image came from The Red One... Survival was shot on the RED ONE... that is how most productions on the Red turn out and hence why I hate it. All hype, that is what the RED ONE is... all hype

[Legion2213]

Cracking movie, I enjoyed it a lot. Denzel was great in it.

As for religion being in movies, don't have a problem with it. Christianity is one of the foundind pillars of our society and civilisation, and it's nice to see a movie where the Christian isn't some cardboard cut out religious nutjob.

[LouCipherr]

Saw this last night... Oh dear!

A promising work of apocalyptic fiction ruined by a bunch of silly fictional religious hoodoo!

I'm thinking the title of this thread should've been "I have shamed myself, I watched The Book of Eli" :lol: :D ;)

[Neil]

Cracking movie, I enjoyed it a lot. Denzel was great in it.

As for religion being in movies, don't have a problem with it. Christianity is one of the foundind pillars of our society and civilisation, and it's nice to see a movie where the Christian isn't some cardboard cut out religious nutjob.

*SPOILERS*

It started off well, but the stupid religious nonsense just wound me up! A street full of guys unable to shoot him? Come on! A bullet in his belly doesn't kill him? Come on! Remembers a whole bible? Come on!

Someone will then argue 'the hand of God' came into play, then why doesn't the big G just not keep a single book safe at Alcatraz in the first place? Why not make him miss the trouble in his travels in the first place? It's just silly and lazy IMHO!


Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but I sort of felt a little cheated by the end and got the feeling it all just sort of missed the mark!

[Legion2213]

Don't Muslims memorize the Koran? I'm sure that many religious folk of various denominations who are dedicated enough and can quite literally remember their holy books.

As for the "hand of God" argument, that's what it was about, it's like any other religious tale, the guy is guided and aided by his God and his faith (The Bible and other sacred books are FULL of these kind of tales)...and it wouldn't have been much of a movie if God had just plonked the last Bible down in a safe place would it. :D

I honestly enjoyed the entire movie, like I said earlier, it was so refreshing to see a dedicated Christian who wasn't lazily and fashionably portrayed as some sort of evil/twisted whackjob as they usually are in modern media/tales (I'm looking at you Stephen King).

It's one of the most enjoyable films I've seen in a while (visually beautiful in a PA kinda way, wonderful action scenes, likable hero, excellent bad guy, not bogged down by silly, boring romance etc). It's on my "to buy" blu-ray list. :)

Oh, and big fat happy new year to you and all the other shady denizens of the mighty HPOTD. :cool:

[EvilNed]

Neil and Ned: How can you hate on a flick just because of religious theme? That's on the same level as if I called Boondock Saints a shitty flick because the FBI guy was homosexual. I don't agree with homosexuality but I'm not going to just jump up and say "oh yeah shitty homosexual movie" because that would be very ignorant of me to do so.

Cause it's fucking ridiculous. Did you even see the film? It looks like you did, because in your spoiler tag you have captured the essence of why this film totally bombs. In a bad way.

[Publius]

If you love religious hoodoo driving a plot you should read "A Canticle for Leibowitz" and get your religious hoodoo on. It's a good book, but is centrally driven by religion. I have not watched Eli either but it sounds like it draws heavily from Leibowitz.

Very good book. Different take on the postapocalyptic genre.


A street full of guys unable to shoot him? Come on! A bullet in his belly doesn't kill him? Come on!

This was your first action movie, wasn't it? ;-)