Thoughts: The Book of Eli is a post-apocalyptic film staring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman. While The Book of Eli had its moments and had great potential, but just did not deliver in the overall package. One aspect of the film that I found great from a Christian perspective was how the Bible was actually used in the movie. Without spoiling anything, it is about the main character (Denzel Washington) who has the last Bible (although it was explained, it is hard to believe that it was one of the last) and the villain (Gary Oldman) wants it for his own evil propose. There are Bible verses quoted and the importance of the Bible is a central focus of the movie.
Despite what I liked about the movie, there were just some problems that I could not over look. Most of the cinematography was very dull and had a low budget quality. While it worked for the post-nuclear apocalyptic in the beginning of the movie, it became hard to watch and looked cheap. The backgrounds in the desert scenes looked terrible for a big budget film. Also the movie lacked any style or anything that made it stand out as something special.
Directed by: The Hughes brothers
Genre: Post-apocalyptic, Action, Sci-Fi
Release Date: January 15, 2010
Running Time: 117 minutes
MMPA rating: R
The Good: Satisfying ending, Many Biblical references,
The Bad: Dull and cheap cinematography, Unrealistic aspects,
Warning: This film is rated "R" for profanity, violence and other mature content.
Plot: The following plot summary is copied from Wikipedia.com.
Thirty years after a nuclear apocalypse, Eli (Denzel Washington) travels on foot toward the west coast of the United States. Along the way, he demonstrates uncanny survival and fighting skills, hunting wildlife and swiftly defeating a group of highway bandits who try to ambush him. Searching for a source of water, he arrives in a ramshackle town built and overseen by Carnegie (Gary Oldman). Carnegie dreams of building more towns and controlling the people by using the power of a certain book. His henchmen scour the desolate landscape daily in search of it, but to no avail.
In the local town bar, Eli is set upon by a gang of bikers and he kills them all. Realizing Eli is a literate man like himself, Carnegie asks Eli to stay, although it is made clear the offer is non-negotiable. After Carnegie's blind mistress Claudia (Jennifer Beals) gives Eli some food and water, Carnegie orders Claudia's daughter Solara (Mila Kunis) to seduce Eli. Eli turns her down, but she discovers he has a book in his possession. Eli offers to share his food with her. Before they eat, though, he has her pray with him. The following day, Solara prays with her mother. Carnegie overhears them and realizes Solara's words may relate to the book he has been seeking. He forces Solara to tell him Eli was reading a book. When he asks what kind, she says she does not know, but forms a cross with her two index fingers. Carnegie realizes Eli has a copy of the Bible, the book he wants. Eli sneaks out of his room and goes to the store across the street, where he had earlier given the Engineer (Tom Waits) his portable music player to recharge the battery.
Watch the movie to see what happens next.
Plot: 7.0/10- The Biblical references and importance of the Bible was great, but the dialogue and story was mostly dull and lacked interesting characters.
Action: 6.5/10- The few action scenes that are there were cool but it could have been filmed better.
Acting: 6.9/10- Denzel Washington was great, easily the best performance of the film. Although Gary Oldman is one of my favorite actors, his performance was severely lacking, the worst performance I have seen from him. Mila Kunis was not very believable in her role, especially at the end, it was ridiculous.
Special effects: 3.5/10- Many of the backgrounds looked fake and more like television quality than film. Also the filter used on most of the film reduced the quality far too much.
Soundtrack: 2.5/10- There was barely a soundtrack in the movie but that was not a problem for me.
Comedy: 6.0/10- There were some very funny parts and the dark twisted sense of humor actually worked for the movie.
Would I Watch This Again: Probably not, there is little reason for a second viewing.
Overall: 6.9/10- Overall The Book of Eli was good but had a lot of lost potential.
Closing comments: As much as I wanted to really like The Book of Eli, it just did not work as well as it could have.
Recommended for: Post-apocalyptic fans, Denzel Washington fans,
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I've heard of this movie a lot but never heard the plot line. I might have to watch it someday, but I tend to avoid R rated movies, I just can't sit through something with too much language in it. (Though the idea that they based a movie around the Bible is pretty cool. I didn't think that was done anymore.)
ReplyDeleteAnyways! Thank you for your comment and follow! I know I am going to enjoy reading your blog a lot! I read your review on Doctor Who, the one about Clara. I can't remember if I commented or not, so I will just do so here. I really liked it, you had a lot of the same thoughts I did about the series. I'n really excited to see more of Clara now and I hope Matt Smith stays around for awhile because those two work well together.
While reading the book, even only being a little ways into it, I see what you meant about Luke. There is even more to him in there than was in the movies. I think by the end of the book I'm only going to end up liking him even more.
Fantasy! You're right! I don't know how I spaced that one in my post, being I'm such a huge fantasy fan myself. I love visiting Narnia and Middle Earth every chance I get. Such brilliant stories.
Ack! You're right, Klingon is spelt with a K. I knew that too. My brain had one of its black outs.
Also, you asked about the character contest I'm holding for my book release. The ending date on it is June 14th. So if you are interested in entering all you'd need to do is write a post on a character before then and let me know, I'll add your name to the list.
AGain, thanks for the follow! I am glad I've found your blog!
Hmmm, I loved this one actually. I thought the cinematography and the settings were all done well, rendering the world realistically bleak and gritty. You have to admit the one continuous shot of the battle at the house was brilliant. :) And of course the fact that they showed the Bible as the powerful book it is. My only real issue, and it's a small one, was the way they placed the Bible next to the Koran like they are equal.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review!
Think you hit the nail on the head, it's could have been a lot better than it was. Considering the cast, I was kind of disappointed with Oldman as well. Denzel was good but not great.
ReplyDeleteI saw that movie a few years ago (so I was really young and ddn't care about good cinematography and good acting. haha. So I really liked the movie. I might watch it again to see if I still enjoy it. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDelete@Jack: I don't like movies with language either, that's why I decided to watch it censored on cable.
ReplyDeleteThank you! And thanks for following! From what I have read, Smith is set for at least two more seasons, it would be great if Clara would remain his companion for the during of his run
Which Star Wars book are you reading? My favorite is the Thrawn Trilogy.
Thank you for explaining, hopefully I will have time to write something by the 14th.
Also, thank you for the follow as well! Your blog is as the Doctor would say "Fantastic!"
@Jake P: Did you watch it in HD? Maybe that would make the difference. That fight was cool! :)
I must have forgotten about that, but I agree they should not have done that.
Thanks for requesting it!
@Daniel: Thanks, good to see we agree. Oldman was a cartoon basically, I do not know what happened to his acting in the film.
@Faith: Maybe you should watch it again. :) I probably would have enjoyed it more before I was a film critic.
-James
No, we had it on Blu-ray. But anyway, I watched T2 last night on Blu-ray too. Awesome movie!
ReplyDeleteI have not reviewed this and probably wont because I mainly review movies that are great, or people need to be warned about. I thought it looked great, was well acted, but the story made absolutely no sense.
ReplyDelete@Jake P: Then it has more to do with personal taste. :) I really need to get T2 on Blu-Ray! I love that movie.
ReplyDelete@Steve: Those were my problems as well. Thanks for commenting.
-James