The Book of Eli in cinemas now

[ronin84]

I just came back from seeing the movie.

You guys need to check it out... I think most Fallout fans will enjoy it as there are little bits and pieces that'll remind of you of the three games in various parts. It's not going to win any Oscars, but it's a great popcorn flick. Story is so-so, and Mila Kunis is unnecessary eye-candy.

It's NOT action packed, but it certainly doses out more ass kicking than The Road.

And it's NOT overly preachy or 'for' the bible or Christianity. If anything, there's a little of both. On one hand, the movie makes it seem that the bible and what it teaches helps control the weak and powerless, therefore making it the perfect tool for power hungry dictators to use in a land devoid of faith... it also says that the book and/or religion basically caused the 'fire in the sky', ending the world as we know it.

On the other hand, the movie also shows that the book might help bring some peace into the world.

Either way, Fallout fans should check it out. 6/10.

 

[SuAside]

"The Road" seems to be the better movie (for me) but it doesnt show up in cinemas, so I give this one a try.

pffft The Road movie was overhyped and so was the book. At least with the book you could make the world your own.

Found both very mediocre...

Sounds like sh*t.

I'll go watch it for the visuals anyway. If indeed it is so Fallout-y it would be enough for me. I have my doubts though.

 

[coliphorbs]

Wow, lots of "omg bible it must suck!" posts here.

Now mind you, I'm a cynical faithless jew, but guys-- ignorance goes both ways. The bible has a lot more going for it than televangelistic "do this or god will hate you!" rants. It wouldn't have gone down in tradition for 3000 years, otherwise.

 

[Public]

Your point is, coliphorbs?


When the movie is to teach people faith, then I'm not paying to watch it.

 

[coliphorbs]

It's rather asinine to think that's what this movie really sets out to do.

 

[Dionysus]

Wow, lots of "omg bible it must suck!" posts here.

Yeah, I don't see the big inherent problem with a story that addresses religion. I'm pretty much spiritually bankrupt, and I like a lot of stories that include religion or religious themes.

But the movie doesn't look very interesting, so I won't go out of my way to watch it.

 

[ArmorB]

When the movie is to teach people faith, then I'm not paying to watch it.

Not having seen it, I got more of a vibe of how easy it is to use an icon of 'faith' to be able to lead people, for good or bad purposes. To me it actually would say how religion is a bad thing because it turns people into sheep.

I think you all are blowing the religious aspect WAAAAAAYYYY out of proportion especially seeing how the only 2 people who ACTUALLY SAW IT, liked it....

I won't go to the theater to see it but it's definitely going on my Netflix queue.

 

[Surf Solar]

"The Road" seems to be the better movie (for me) but it doesnt show up in cinemas, so I give this one a try.

pffft The Road movie was overhyped and so was the book. At least with the book you could make the world your own.

To be honest - I don't know where this book should be overhyped, except of the obvious Mc Carthy "fanboys". I didn't see a single critic or something in newspaper, no ad for the movie either. Now where is the hype? Yes, the book lacks some "action" and a good story, but the pictures Mc Carthy made there are very strong imo.


I will try this "Book of.." thing out myself (as long as it is getting released in germany), maybe there are a few scenes and landscapes worth watching...

 

[SuAside]

To be honest - I don't know where this book should be overhyped, except of the obvious Mc Carthy "fanboys".

i was thinking of what i've read on post-apoc related communities on teh interwebz.

half of them praise it as the second coming of christ (hyperbole warning) while it's a pretty cheap story with simplistic characters, an unexplained background that doesn't make terrible amounts of sense (TEH TREES! THEY ARE BURNING EVERYWHERE!!!1!!1) and a hollywoodian feelgood ending...

Wow, lots of "omg bible it must suck!" posts here.
<snip>
ignorance goes both ways.
<snip>
It wouldn't have gone down in tradition for 3000 years, otherwise.

haha, oho, wow.

seriously. wtf?

we thought the earth was flat for many more years than that and that was "in tradition" too, but that didn't make it any more true... bringing up time & tradition as something to validate your opinion is rather... fail...

 

[coliphorbs]

Good show, dude! But anyone can chop posts into little snippets to completely skew their meaning.

 

[Sytxferryman]

Ok... The wife and I saw it yesterday. The crowd was allot younger than I had expected, I would say 95% high school crowd, 2 over the age of 60 and one mother with a very unhappy infant. The rest were middle aged.

Going to try to do this without giving away to much...

The movie itself I had heard and though would be over hyped but in all honesty I think it wasn't. The acting was as always good with Denzel. I didn't think it was about the bible saving humanity, but more of the power the words have over people. If anything that should count as anti-religious as using it for whatever purpose you see fit is different. [spoiler:0d9961a7d2]and that people should be free to chose to believe it or not, not have it shoved down their gullets like one character wants to do with it [/spoiler:0d9961a7d2] It addressed some interesting issues such as food shortages and the means people would go through to get food (hand shakes for those that have seen it, and in our theater everyone laughed at the opening cat scene) but lacked addressing other things like how 30 years after the fall they still had gasoline powered vehicles and cruise around revving the engines like its no thing. I would give it a 6.5 considering the alternatives out there. If I wasn't obsessed with post apoc things and realism and in it for the story and action (which it doesn't have allot of) probably a 8.

A interesting note I haven't seen anyone mention here is when he is talking about the fall (by the campfire scene I believe) he mentions that after the fall he leaves to survive outside. Kind of as if leaving a bunker or vault.

Also there is definitely room for a sequel with the ending the way it is.

All in all, if you find yourself bored one evening or you just have to see every post apoc movie in existence its worth it but other than that I would stay at home. My TV is sharper than the movies and my sound is better and there aren't 200 little idiots texting all through out the movie in my house to screw up the experience. I remember when they used to kick people out for that, now its part of the movie experience sadly.

 

[Mad Max RW]

Oof, spoilers dude.

Ha, you were too stupid to figure out it was the Bible on your own? The numerous trailers where Denzel repeats quotes from it weren't obvious enough? Even the name "Eli" means God. Book of God. Jeez.

If you see the movie keep an eye out for the movie poster from A Boy and His Dog and a sniper using Vic's gun.

 

[coliphorbs]

No, I was just completely ignorant to this movie and haven't been following up on it. Glad to know it's not a spoiler. Nevermind that it is also just a name, but "Eli" means "My God" by the by.

Jeez.

 

[maximaz]

Wow some of the posts here are ridiculous. I consider myself a pretty religious person but I wouldn't be bothered by a movie with atheist ideas at its core or those of some other religion, real or fictional. That would be simply weird.

Having said that, the movie doesn't look that good to me. I was interested at first but then I saw the 50 year old Denzel doing martial arts and Mila Kunis and that just ended it.

 

[phr34ky5tyl3y]

Having seen the film I would rate it fairly low as far as movies go, but as far as post apoc movies go I'd say it's pretty good except for maybe the last 10 minutes.

While it seems to be interpreted that way by a lot of people, I don't think the film tries to promote Christianity as the one true religion or anything like that. Nobody ever says at the end "well Eli, looks like you saved the world" etc. I think the film is about the importance of faith in a faithless world, they just happened to use the Bible as their vehicle for that. One little scene at the end reinforces this point.

 

[SuAside]

Sytxferryman, haven't seen the movie, but cars can be kept driving if modified to run on things like high grade alcohol.

 

[Bewitched]

Just from the cinema. The worst. Postapocalyptic movie. Ever . The Book of Eli is a good example of what happens when you combine Bible and Hollywood.

 

[Paul_cz]

Wow some of the posts here are ridiculous. I consider myself a pretty religious person but I wouldn't be bothered by a movie with atheist ideas at its core or those of some other religion, real or fictional. That would be simply weird.

Well I would be dissapointed if the movie turned out to be a fantasy one instead of sci-fi one (see battlestar galactica for that )

 

[Crni Vuk]

Having seen the film I would rate it fairly low as far as movies go, but as far as post apoc movies go I'd say it's pretty good except for maybe the last 10 minutes.

While it seems to be interpreted that way by a lot of people, I don't think the film tries to promote Christianity as the one true religion or anything like that. Nobody ever says at the end "well Eli, looks like you saved the world" etc. I think the film is about the importance of faith in a faithless world, they just happened to use the Bible as their vehicle for that. One little scene at the end reinforces this point.

Then why not give Dansel the chance to pick up the Qur'an ?

 

[ronin84]

Having seen the film I would rate it fairly low as far as movies go, but as far as post apoc movies go I'd say it's pretty good except for maybe the last 10 minutes.

While it seems to be interpreted that way by a lot of people, I don't think the film tries to promote Christianity as the one true religion or anything like that. Nobody ever says at the end "well Eli, looks like you saved the world" etc. I think the film is about the importance of faith in a faithless world, they just happened to use the Bible as their vehicle for that. One little scene at the end reinforces this point.

Then why not give Dansel the chance to pick up the Qur'an ?

Because the movie is being marketed to a Western, Christian faith based demographic... who right now aren't exactly keen on Qur'an reading peoples of the world. If Danzel was carrying around a Qur'an, i'm pretty sure that would be box office suicide.

There IS however a Qur'an in the movie.