I have no idea why people hated The book of Eli

[Lien]

Needless to say: *SPOILERS!*

Directed by the Hughes Brothers
Starting Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman and Meg griffin... huh... Mila Kunis. Also short cameo of Malcolm McDowell and Michael Gambon (Dumbledore).

Plot: in a post-apocalypse world, One man had a vision. He had to travel west to deliver the last know bible under the mission from god. However, after 30 years of travel, sinister forces (That's Gary Oldman!) wants to take the book away from him and use it to their selfish needs.

Lots of action, cool story, Good characters (I.e no silent goon who blindly follows orders), a twist at the end and F*** it! It's Denzel!
Critics hates it but me and my brother went to see it and actually enjoyed it! Roger Ebert loves it too! But Entertainment Weekly hates it somehow and calls it "The Road Warrior without car chases (despise having one, a short one ), or The Road Warrior without humanity". Ouch!

And the turnabout in the last moments of the film make you want to see it again to notice the clues. It also explains why Denzel Washington is just standing there and why he never takes cover during a gun fight. It's not to look cool, there actually a reason.

That and people who call this a "over-pro-christian-zealot-propaganda" seriously needs to get outside their mom's basement and get laid (actually, better not cause their offspring might hate them for it).
Also, when i went to see it at the metreon, Gary Whitta (the writer) was in the audience! After the film, I shook his hand, got his autograph and ask the obvious question every one on GR was wondering (i got it on tape with my bro's cellphone):

Me: So hey! I was wondering. There's this game out there called "Fallout"... And yeah i know, the movie is not at all the same but were you inspired by it?
Whitta: Oh man... Do you know how many people e-mail me this? Look, when i started writing this film, it was more then two years before Fallout came out! So no!
One of his buddy: (Interrupts) Hey! wanna get to my place afterward and play some Mario?
Whitta: Sure, why not!

In other news, Death. Jr writter Gary Whitta is a Mario nerd and his constant rescuing of princess peach is an insult to womanhood everywhere! [Citation needed] More at six.

So... What do you blokes think about it.

 

[keepithowitis]

I wanna see it.
P.S. why is everything post-apocalyptic automatically compared to Fallout?

 

[madster111]

I'll see this with my mates when it's out at the movies down here.

Sounds pretty decent.

 

[GRColin]

I kind of want to see it but it looks to me like it has some pretty cheesy lines. "Touch me with that hand and you won't be getting it back." Ohhh! See that? That makes him a badass!

Really though, it looks like The Road for dummies. I'll check it out and check my brain at the door.

 

[LinksOcarina]

Religous overtones maybe?

 

[Eyebrowsbv31]

Religous overtones maybe?

Well duh, even porn has religious overtones now.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

I think it's because it tries to have a good point, but then completely contradicts the whole point by having him shoot a whole bunch of people.

 

[Lien]

I think it's because it tries to have a good point, but then completely contradicts the whole point by having him shoot a whole bunch of people.

You know, i first thought of that. The very beginning of the movie opens with him cutting up some cannibals. But right after, we see a couple being ambushed. The man first gets shot then the woman gets raped. I think that last part was put there to show that you can't be weak and preach the bible. Or else you get kill/raped/eaten.

Besides, Denzel in the movie doesn't preach to people like the Spanish inquisition. We hear him mutter some lines i'll give you that and he also taught Meg... i mean the girl some table manners. He mostly quote from the genesis and only said "the lord is my Shepard" once. All throughout out the film, he mostly an action man. And in the end, we also see the Torah, the Quran and even the PÄÂ

 

[UrbanMasque]

No No No.. It was entertaining.. and Denzel and Gary acted their asses off.

It was just stupid.

Spoiler

Ok. So, Denzel was blind... sweet. doesn't change how bad ass his character was and it was a nice little surprise at the end but some of the things he did confuses me more than the actual bible itself.

For instance, Why did he walk during the day if he was blind?! Why would he take away his only advantage - walk during the night, and rest during the day in some isolated spot.
Also, Why wear sunglasses?
You have the book memorized, why not burn it or bury it, save yourself so much trouble. Mila Kunis is terrible, and the ending made me want to just shout at her, "Shut up Meg!"

Story - I like the fact that it states a religious war caused the destruction of society, but the Bible is the most printed book in history, You couldn't get rid of it if you tried. iPods still function but there are no bibles? [Denzel has the last copy and hes trying to protect it until he gets to his promised land - Oh yea, its written in Braille]. I wish they would've told us how Denzel can go from working at Kmart to being a machete wielding bible thumper.

Would it really take you 30 yrs to walk from the east coast to the west coast?.. I guess if you were blind it would.

I give it a 6.5/10, with Denzel and Gary carrying this thing.

 

[Lien]

Finally, someone who saw the film!

Your right, it is the most printed book in history. But don't forget that the bomb fell down. Maybe there's thousands laying around but with most people who lost the ability to read and god knows what happen to the rest of the world people just assumed they burned down everything (which they didn't since Denzel had a copy, so there could be more). It could also be that only the books in that region got burned down.
And yeah, even meg asked that same question: "It took you 30 years?" Guess being blind is a B****. I've complained during the movie why he didn't duck after that bullet flew past him or why he didn't see the sign that say "No trespassing" in big. It's because he didn't realize what was going on.

Also, if Denzel hasn't learn how to fight with machetes, bow&arrows and guns in the past 30 years, there won't be a story here now would it? And i'd rather watch meg act like an idiot she was on the screen then bear Megan Fox's "acting".
And F*** it! It's cold at night! YOU walk East to West at night and see how it feels!

Otherwise, your review is waaaayyy nicer then the one in my papers this morning. Seriously, are the critics in a bad mood lately?

 

[GRColin]

Otherwise, your review is waaaayyy nicer then the one in my papers this morning. Seriously, are the critics in a bad mood lately?

No but when the last post apocalyptic film was the extremely well done adaptation of "The Road" and the next post apocalyptic film to follow is a brain dead action-er with no heart it's hard to be happy.

 

[MikeyVassallo]

Unless he started this movie two years before the very first Fallout came out, I'm not buying it.

Still, I want to see it.

 

[Trippysmurf]

Unless he started this movie two years before the very first Fallout came out, I'm not buying it.

I was going to make this comment. The original Fallout came out in 1997, and technically Fallout was the spiritual successor of Wasteland.

Urban also brings up some good points. Especially about the Bible, where you can find one in every room in every hotel across America.

 

[UrbanMasque]

Also i dont buy that everyone can't read... I think in an Apocalypse, the survivors would have NOTHING better to do - so reading would be their ONLY means of entertainment. I think there would be more people who could read.

The guy dictated the entire book of the bible!!! and Matt McDermott wrote it down, all those antiques in there - there isn't an audio recorder or a typewriter? Things don't add up.

Also, survival is survival - how can you frown on someone else for eating other people to survive? Does machete and firearms training come standard at Kmart? seriously how did he learn to do that?!

on a lighter note - i think this picture is baddass

Gary Oldman is BACK!

 

[Bretimus_v2]

Or else you get kill/raped/eaten.

I would just hope it goes down in that order.

I probably won't waste my time on this, I'm going to finally see Avatar!

 

[GRColin]

Oh and why do so many movies have rape in them these days?

 

[MikeyVassallo]

Well you have to suspend disbelief, now I haven't seen the movie yet, but I can believe for 2 hours that after a heinous religious war every holy book (not just the bible it sounds like) was destroyed in order to prevent another one save for one copy of the book which happens to be in braille. A blind man finds it, along with others, and is able to understand the actually peaceful message within the text and realizes it is something precious enough to protect, even kill for- which creates an irony. That is that funny feeling you get inside when you can't understand the mixed message the movie is sending you.

Now, this might not be the point of the movie at all. Like I said I haven't seen it and probably won't until the weekend after next, but it sounds like a good story to me...

 

[UrbanMasque]

^You were right about everything, except Denzel heard a voice 'as clearly as I here yours[Mila Kunis'] now'. It told him to go to the place where he picked up the book - and walk with it until he finds the place it was meant to be.

Denzel has some other lines that make me cringe, like something about faith not needing a 2nd opinion. B/c she told him walking was crazy - he said, yes I hear the voices, yes it was frightening, but I'm not crazy B/C i know im not crazy..

F***!, every looney is going to look at this like its justification to do something crazy. Stal, i love the irony, our loving god typically sends messages of violence to us. He spoke to 2 people on record - the 1st person he gave 10 rules to, the other he told to kill his son. So i guess this movie lines up correctly.

 

[Trippysmurf]

Didn't he speak to Adam and Noah, before Abraham and Moses?

 

[UrbanMasque]

I don't know if he spoke directly with those two. I'm guessing if he did - then Adam wouldn't have been lonely and there would have been no need to create Eve. And Noah was told by an angel, i think. [You know what why not just ask Google].

Trick question - Google is God.