Book of Eli

[doug maverick]

Ok just watched this movie and I gotta say I really enjoyed it. Every review I read of this film I couldn’t tell if they were being positive or negative I don’t think they even knew. One thing I gotta say is this is not for people who don’t have at least and inkling of the bible, in terms of story. Because this movie is truly, “god has a plan for everything” type of movie, everything that happens is suppose to happen, that type of fashion. Denzel Washington as Eli was fantastic and I wish I would have known more about his past, it just made you more intrigued to know, same thing for Gary Oldman’s character. For some reason I saw him as a school teacher in his past life. And Eli I saw him as a total atheist non believer, as often is the case god always chooses those who forsake him to do is work, in the bible. Maybe he was a scientist. The one weak person in this film was the tragic miscasting of mila kunis, she totally sucks in action roles, same way she did in max payne, it’s not her look but her voice it’s just not an action girls voice, I know that may sound weird but I draw her problem right to that. Another thing was her look, I was thinking she should have been uglier like missing some teeth or something, instead she looked like a gorgeous women with some dirt on her. Tom waits was totally underused as the shop owner. And the cannibal characters could’ve been better organized (for example the old couple should have came earlier in the film). But really a movie with both gary oldman and denzel wahsington, it could’ve just been them two reading the phone book at each other and it would have been good.

Ok as for the story, like I said it was one of those “god has a plan for everything” type of stories, and watching all the puzzles fit into place my confuse some people. For example(spoiler alert) people think denzel failed in his mission, when in fact it was just as it was planned he delivered the book to a man in the west as he was supposed to. And by reading the book for thirty years he himself became its catalyst. There some places where the hughes could have strengthened the film. You get the Sergio leone spaghetti western feel(one of the characters even whistles the theme from once upon a time in America) part samurai film(in a really big way,) and of course part mad max.

The cinematography by Don burges(forest gump, spider man, what lies beneath) was downright gorgeous, he did a fantastic job and capturing that post apocalyptic feel. The sound design was also another thing to note as it was used to enhance your feeling of being in this drap world.

Ok now to the part where Eli steals the show, the action. Jeff imadas choreography was amazing, down right. Haven’t seen better in America in a long while, and denzel doing the action was great. I like how the movements were efficient over flash. I thoroughly enjoyed all the action scenes.

All and all I give the movie A strong 8 out of ten. I would love to see it again and probably will.

[Zenshiite]

I thought it was a good movie. I was really enthralled with the atmosphere and the idea of the story. The biblical theme is very interesting, and the fact that it could have been any other religious scripture is interesting to me. Though, I don't think it would work as well with the setting if the book Eli was tasked with delivering had been the Qur'an. I would have been totally psyched about that, but it would make more sense in a middle eastern post apocalyptic setting. Of course, this movie isn't about the King James Bible specifically providing salvation, it's part of a growing collection that ultimately will lead to the rebuilding of society. Which makes the Bible in this story much more symbolic of the most influential works in human history than it necessarily does of specific Christian teachings. It's especially symbolic of the foundations of human ethics, and in the world we are presented with this is absolutely important.

My wife and I were discussing it today, and one of the things we came up with is that Carnegie is obviously only interested in wielding the Bible as a weapon(duh, right?) but Eli's objective ultimately is to spread the teachings and knowledge contained in that book. Or rather, that's going to be the outcome of his mission if it should be completed. It's a story of religious texts in so many ways, really. The tension between those who would spread the knowledge of the Bible and those who would horde the knowledge of the Bible and use it to manipulate and rule the ignorant masses.

I agree that Mila Kunis is woefully out of place. I could deal with her still being cute and all, but it was her clothes that bothered me the most. Plus, she was the damsel in distress the whole movie... so the voice didn't bother me so much. It was the clothes, that looked like they were right off the rack in the local mall that bothered me the most.


I also found my feelings about the movie to be hard to place, despite the fact that I really enjoyed watching it. I didn't feel like there was anything particularly moving about the film, and I do feel like there could have been something really moving in there. Given the subject matter. It just kind of left me in a pondering sort of mood, rather than doing anything particularly sentimental. It's a contemplative sort of movie, ironically, given the brutal nature of the melee and fist fighting. All of which was superb.

[doug maverick]

I thought it was a good movie. I was really enthralled with the atmosphere and the idea of the story. The biblical theme is very interesting, and the fact that it could have been any other religious scripture is interesting to me. Though, I don't think it would work as well with the setting if the book Eli was tasked with delivering had been the Qur'an. I would have been totally psyched about that, but it would make more sense in a middle eastern post apocalyptic setting. Of course, this movie isn't about the King James Bible specifically providing salvation, it's part of a growing collection that ultimately will lead to the rebuilding of society. Which makes the Bible in this story much more symbolic of the most influential works in human history than it necessarily does of specific Christian teachings. It's especially symbolic of the foundations of human ethics, and in the world we are presented with this is absolutely important.

My wife and I were discussing it today, and one of the things we came up with is that Carnegie is obviously only interested in wielding the Bible as a weapon(duh, right?) but Eli's objective ultimately is to spread the teachings and knowledge contained in that book. Or rather, that's going to be the outcome of his mission if it should be completed. It's a story of religious texts in so many ways, really. The tension between those who would spread the knowledge of the Bible and those who would horde the knowledge of the Bible and use it to manipulate and rule the ignorant masses.

I agree that Mila Kunis is woefully out of place. I could deal with her still being cute and all, but it was her clothes that bothered me the most. Plus, she was the damsel in distress the whole movie... so the voice didn't bother me so much. It was the clothes, that looked like they were right off the rack in the local mall that bothered me the most.


I also found my feelings about the movie to be hard to place, despite the fact that I really enjoyed watching it. I didn't feel like there was anything particularly moving about the film, and I do feel like there could have been something really moving in there. Given the subject matter. It just kind of left me in a pondering sort of mood, rather than doing anything particularly sentimental. It's a contemplative sort of movie, ironically, given the brutal nature of the melee and fist fighting. All of which was superb.

i agree with you about the cloths...those were really out of place along with kunis herself...its like i said she just seemed so wrong for the part.

[GeneChing]

Book of Eli did well in the shadow of Avatar. $32,770,000 weekend gross according to box office mojo.

The Book of Eli Directors Allen and Albert Hughes on Their Sacred MacGuffin

Twin brothers Allen and Albert Hughes (Menace II Society, From Hell) discuss their post-apocalyptic flick, share their views on how religion relates to The Force and explain how The Book of Eli is their version of Kung Fu.

Q: Allen, you read the script to Book of Eli first, then you had to convince Albert (an atheist) to do it. What attracted you to the project?

Allen: It was sparse and it was pure and it just felt like a throwback to everything we cared about in cinema. It was getting better and better as a post-nuclear Western movie, and I think around page 45, Carnegie (Gary Oldman's character), said "It's not just a book -- it's a weapon." And I went, "Oh my God!" That was spine-tingling.

Albert: The first thing Allen said to me on the phone was that line from that "Where's the Beef" commercial, "I finally found it!" So I read it and I called him back and I said, "I just don't know about this religious element." And I just heard him deflate. He told me to sleep on it, so I went to sleep with that Trent Reznor album Year Zero stuck in my head, and I had a dream about the movie, and I found my way in through the song.

Q: Variety posited that Warner Bros. should have courted a Christian audience for the movie. Do you agree?

Allen: I don't think you can consciously court a Christian audience going into a project. Christians aren't like sheep -- there's this perception that just because they go to church they're going to do what their pastor tells them to do. But if they hear from their family and loved ones that it's not a good movie, they're not going to the cinema [Laughs]. Doesn't matter what the message is. Kirk Cameron taught us that lesson. If they were so huge, he'd be a f---ing rock star right now.

Albert: You've gotta believe in the movie, much like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars: People go in and suspend disbelief and they go along for that ride. But when you get something as incendiary as religion, logical-minded intellectuals, even non-logical people start to get weirded out. As a non-believer, I'm sure some of the stuff will rub you the wrong way. I just hope people go into this movie and use that same side of their brain that let them accept there's a Middle Earth and Hobbits.

Allen: My theory is my brother always wants to be the hard-a-- on everything. I don't think he's an atheist. He just doesn't believe in a certain book or a particular God. But Albert was possessed when he put the book together to get us this job -- he **** near didn't sleep for three weeks and we had to check him into the hospital. My personal theory, and I've never said this before, is whether it be Jesus or Buddha or someone like Sitting Bull, they're all representative of the same one-ness. I don't think God bets on a horse. [Laughs]

Q: In that sense, the Bible in your movie really could have been anything.

Allen: It's interesting because I refer to it as a Sacred MacGuffin. The Bible is just the most popular example you can use -- and the most debated one on a mass level. It's the world's best-selling book!

Albert: It's not about preaching or religion; it could have easily been a book about how to make the perfect bomb.

Q: This movie follows on the heels of The Road and 2012. Why is now such an appropriate time for post-apocalyptic movies?

Allen: I guess everything is just a delayed reaction. I think 9/11 hit home hard for America -- it's the first time we felt mortal. And that feels real and that's drama. So I think they started putting those in the pipeline back then.

Albert: I think it's a complete accident. Everybody brings up genres, and I'm like, has anyone talked about the thousand cop movies that came out last year? It's true, there are a lot of these post-apocalyptic movies coming out now, but I'd rather see ten post-apocalyptic movies, eight of them being really bad, than a thousand cop movies. For us it was just a good story.

Q: You drew inspiration for Eli from Kung Fu movies like Oldboy and Enter the Dragon. Will that influence your proposed adaptation of the Kung Fu television series?

Allen: Uh, if we ever do that, yeah. I think Book of Eli is Kung Fu. It's the same story -- it's a Christian man instead of a Buddhist monk. It's a walker in the West looking for something and coming across a bunch of trouble. I don't know how much interest Kung Fu still holds. I'd rather go back and do the Battle of Big Little Horn -- Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and Custard and put that on steroids.

Albert: Yeah I think that Eli did get that out of our system. We did the so-called post-apocalyptic, violent, religious, spiritual whatever the f--- that thing is, and now let's do the 180 of that. At heart, me and my brother are clowns. No one really knows that, but we should be doing comedies. But it's a tough sell in town after all these violent movies.

[mickey]

Greetings,

I saw the movie and I thought it was good. Denzel handled fight choreography really well; well, amazingly well, to be honest.

Without trying to introduce a spoiler, I noticed a Muslim subtext to Eli's unique ability at the end of the flick. It is something that they (I do not know if all sects do this) are known to do with their religion. That, the scimitar and his navigation skills are attributes and qualities associated with Muslims. So then, was Eli a Muslim to begin with who, somehow, converted along his path to wisdom? With that in mind it would have been that much cooler if Eli had a few religious books with him.

mickey

ps: I am tired of watching Denzel Washington die in his movies. It ruins his income potential with a sequel.

[Zenshiite]

Eli could easily have been Ilyas and carrying a Qur'an, for sure.

[mickey]

Zenshiite,

Do you think someone flipped the script to make it more palatable? Since my last post, I got that feeling.

That the character of Eli may have been a Muslim carrying the Bible elevates the story with the "we serve the same God" message.

Who really was Eli? Eli was absolute devotion, surrender, and love. Gee, that sounds familiar.

mickey

[Zenshiite]

Most of the interviews with the Hughes brothers says the script came with the Bible in tact and they never considered changing the books. So, no, I don't think that it was different before that. Just that it could have been, so the movie becomes less about the Bible specifically and more about what religious books can be used for IMO.



SPOILER ALERT!!!!


I think that's borne out by the ending and where the shelf that the KJV Bible ends up on. It joins a couple copies of the Qur'an(one entirely in Arabic), a couple versions of the Torah & Tanakh, and books of Aristotle and what not. So to me it's not so much about the importance of the Bible above all other books. Of course, the tag line of the ad campaign is probably misleading.

[oasis]

Well, the other thing about a Muslim version of this is that it would not have been based on an actual text but rather the character would have inevitably been a Hafidh (one who memorized the Quran). Thus, he would have only been carrying the text in his head, which would leave more room in his bag for weapons

[Zenshiite]

^Very true. I was actually pretty stoked at the end when it turned out Eli had memorized his Bible. Because of the Hafiz parallel. Of course, in my mind it does somewhat stretch my suspension of disbelief because while the Qur'an, in Arabic, actually lends itself to memorization via the poetic structure... the King James Verson of the Bible definitely does not. So that's no small feat, a miracle in itself really.

[doug maverick]

i thin k you are forgetting he was reading the bible for 30 years...so 30 years reading the same book anybody would know it backwards and forwards.

[Zenshiite]

^I'm sure there are plenty of priests that don't know the Bible like that.

[doug maverick]

there arent many preist who read the bible everyday for thirty years...and those that do and have...no the bible backwards and forwards.

[Zenshiite]

^You think they'd be able to recite it word for word to be recorded for posterity?

[doug maverick]

if you read it everyday for 30 years...yes