The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discussion

[Trekker4747]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

It wasn't a twist I was expecting, personally, but I'll admit to not being all that-well versed in things theological. It was a bit of a "shock"

Spoiler: ending, as...

I wasn't expecting the character to be blind

(and I'm usualy not one to cry about spoilers in threads, but I think that this is a spoiler that shouldn't be spoken "in public" in this thread as it can be a pretty big one.)

On that ending, I know there's a lot of hindsight stuff that makes it all not add up,

Spoiler: but I'd offer that either Eli...

wasn't totaly blind (just, maybe, "legally blind")

or we have to accept this movie in a grand theological sense that God was guiding/protecting Eli through his important journey.

 

[sidious618]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

It was cool to watch and had some very interesting ideas but overall I didn't think it really hung together all that well.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

It was decent. Good action, good cinematography, and I liked the music. There was also one particular scene that was laugh-out-loud funny.

I'm an atheist and I really didn't have a problem with any "message" contained in it. Some people just look for things to be offended by.

 

[GalaxyX]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

Are there any Energy Weapons in it?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

Are there any Energy Weapons in it?

Nope. Machetes, bows and arrows, and a whole lot of guns.

 

[GalaxyX]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

Are there any Energy Weapons in it?

Nope. Machetes, bows and arrows, and a whole lot of guns.

Crap!!! A Fallout movie isn't Fallout without energy weapons

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

It was decent. Good action, good cinematography, and I liked the music. There was also one particular scene that was laugh-out-loud funny.

I'm an atheist and I really didn't have a problem with any "message" contained in it. Some people just look for things to be offended by.

I'm an atheist too, can't say why anyone would be offended, unless it was someone of a religious background being offended that someone wanted to use the bible as weapon to subjugate people.

But beyond a nice, although grey and washed out, look, and a couple of good scenes the film as a whole bored me. I thought it was predictable and took a long time to say not very much.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

I haven't seen it yet, but how can it be a twist that he's blind? His name is ELI!

I am seriously looking forward to watching it!

New Mexico + Denzel Washington + Gary Oldman + Christian themes = (hopefully) win

Michael, spoiler space please! It's just polite.

 

[Trekker4747]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

... someone wanted to use the bible as weapon to subjugate people.

To be fair, people in real life have been doing that for over 2000 years, so.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

... someone wanted to use the bible as weapon to subjugate people.

To be fair, people in real life have been doing that for over 2000 years, so.

Yeah, but still offends people when the Bible is used for evil rather than good.

 

[firehawk12]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

I want to watch it because the screenwriter posts at a forum I read, but since I can't... I'll have to wait for it to come out on DVD or whatever.

I guess he can't really address some of the criticisms, nor should he, but the film is doing financially well so he's happy about it.

 

[TheBrew]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

... someone wanted to use the bible as weapon to subjugate people.

To be fair, people in real life have been doing that for over 2000 years, so.

Yeah, but still offends people when the Bible is used for evil rather than good.

Ideas are neither good nor evil. It's how people use them.

 

[Star Wolf]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

Are there any Energy Weapons in it?

Nope. Machetes, bows and arrows, and a whole lot of guns.

You forgot the RPG-7, now how did that get to America?

 

[Star Wolf]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

... someone wanted to use the bible as weapon to subjugate people.

To be fair, people in real life have been doing that for over 2000 years, so.

Yeah, but still offends people when the Bible is used for evil rather than good.

But it was the villain, and by all accounts God personally stepped in to save his Prophet. The Christian side would have nothing to complain about.

However other tribes of believers in God might. As Eli was the guardian of a specific translation of the Christian Bible and that message is only moderated by a short scene that you have to be paying close attention to, to notice.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

To be fair, people in real life have been doing that for over 2000 years, so.

Yeah, but still offends people when the Bible is used for evil rather than good.

But it was the villain, and by all accounts God personally stepped in to save his Prophet. The Christian side would have nothing to complain about.

However other tribes of believers in God might. As Eli was the guardian of a specific translation of the Christian Bible and that message is only moderated by a short scene that you have to be paying close attention to, to notice.

You mean the bit at the end where they have a Torah and a Qur'an and other books on the shelf?

 

[Ethan_Hunt_IMF]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

It was appallingly bad. It was nothing but religious propaganda. And I don't mean something thinly-veiled, and it wasn't subtle like the Left Behind movies (sarcasm intended). It was open your mouth cuz we're going to shove our propaganda right down your throats.

It's rare that people walk out of free screenings around here, but a good third of the audience walked out during the movie, and every person I talked to after it finished said they hated it, it was bad, and full of plotholes.

Oh yeah, the plotholes ... Eli was supposedly blind through the whole thing. THAT is the twist? Sorry, when they have him looking at things (for example, the ipod which is still playing, and seeing that it shows "low battery"), that little twist is a failure.

D minus.

I'm kinda anti religion but i thought the movie was more about faith than religion.
Re the IPOD, it had low battery and I don't know if you recall but he was mashing on the buttons to get it to work so maybe that was the directors way of hinting at it
I thought McDowell putting the book next to a book like the qua'ron(sp).
I loved that it wasn't a movie like avatar with its very pretty presence but thin and reused plot. or Daybreakers that well, you know what you are getting.
The only person of faith making the movie was Denzel. watch the interviews. Mila Kunis was asked if she thought it was a good thing to have religion and she said that the world would be a better place without it.
The directors said that they weren't trying to make a movie about christianity but more about having faith in something.
I understand people not liking it though. I rather enjoyed it though

 

[Ethan_Hunt_IMF]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

... someone wanted to use the bible as weapon to subjugate people.

To be fair, people in real life have been doing that for over 2000 years, so.

yes they have!

 

[Star Wolf]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

Yeah, but still offends people when the Bible is used for evil rather than good.

But it was the villain, and by all accounts God personally stepped in to save his Prophet. The Christian side would have nothing to complain about.

However other tribes of believers in God might. As Eli was the guardian of a specific translation of the Christian Bible and that message is only moderated by a short scene that you have to be paying close attention to, to notice.

You mean the bit at the end where they have a Torah and a Qur'an and other books on the shelf?

I guess spoiler rules don't apply to this thread

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

But it was the villain, and by all accounts God personally stepped in to save his Prophet. The Christian side would have nothing to complain about.

However other tribes of believers in God might. As Eli was the guardian of a specific translation of the Christian Bible and that message is only moderated by a short scene that you have to be paying close attention to, to notice.

You mean the bit at the end where they have a Torah and a Qur'an and other books on the shelf?

I guess spoiler rules don't apply to this thread

It's a grading and discussion thread, I thought the general rule was that it was expected in these threads?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: The Book of Eli (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) Grading & Discuss

Are there any Energy Weapons in it?

Nope. Machetes, bows and arrows, and a whole lot of guns.

You forgot the RPG-7, now how did that get to America?

Oh yeah, I forgot about the RPG. That whole scene was badass, though. Price of admission was worth just that sequence.