Genres

Visitors Review

ncoutlander 2012-05-25 09:05:34

How Can You Mend a Broken World

Good movies always find a way of immersing the viewer into the movie.Sometimes it's through a sudden event and other times it can be just asubtle moment. In the movie The Book of Eli it was one of those subtlemoments. The scene focused Eli listening to a tune on his I Pod. Thesong playing was "How can you mend a Broken Heart". This tune was madefamous by the Bee Gees,the rendition used in the movie was one by AlGreen.I could immediately tell why the producer chose the later version by AlGreen. The song's calming effect immediately transported us into thatroom with Eli. The lyrics of the song were a memorable reminder of thepast and what he was feeling in the present. These are feelings I'msure we could all identify with at some point in our lives. From thatpoint in the movie on, we found ourselves ready to accompany Eli on hisjourney. Eli was a journey based solely on hope and faith. There werereminders to us all along the way of the things in life we often takefor granted(one which even included one of those little bottles ofshampoo you get from a hotel). One doesn't have to be a Christian toappreciate movie, but I'm sure some will view it that way. The messagethe movie conveys is a good one for all to see. The Book of Eli is wellworth watching. Denzel Washington gives another great commandperformance. The supporting cast is a great fit for the movie, allgiving excellent performances.

noroozi_asad 2012-05-25 01:54:24

The whole story can be said in one old-fashioned sentence

When I saw the DVD cover for the first time, the name and pictureresemble a very clever a thoughtful story about mankind. Unfortunatelythis idea didn't last so long. Immediately after starting player Iwhispered this is another MadMax so continue to the end to find how themodern technology and powerful computers have done it more attractivethis time. I was looking for something new that can be distinguishableor at least teach me a lesson for living. But it had nothing to doneither with being new nor with life. The whole story can be said inone old-fashioned sentence: There is a book that worth everything evenlife of others and there is someone who is powerful enough to overcomeevery trouble, every danger and everything that could be defined as aproblem! I thing the writer didn't know a simple fact. The human beingis not so foolish to forget all about his or her creator and the bookof God. I didn't get what was happened to all of those good people thatwere living before and why there is only one wise man on the earth?

FlashCallahan 2012-05-22 22:19:25

'is that in the book?.....'

The world has become a lawless civilisation where people must kill orbe killed. The barren roads belong to gangs of cutthroats who rob andkill for water, a pair of shoes, a lighter, or just for fun. Eli is a peaceful man who only acts in self defence, and becomes awarrior with unbelievable killing skills when he is challenged. After the war and the "Big Flash", Eli was guided by a higher power toa hidden book and given the task of protecting the book and taking itto its final destination. Eli guards the book with his life, because he knows that the book isthe only hope that humanity has for its future.....The beginning of the year, and all cinemas are packed with potentialaward worthy movies and other movies which are more orientated toblockbuster crowds. This film falls in the latter, The Hughes Brothersfirst film since 'From Hell' is beautiful to watch, but you can tell inthose nine years, they have watched every post-apocalyptic movie from'The Road Warrior' to 'Cyborg'.Washington plays the titular character, who is heading west for somereason or another, and stumbles into a town which is run by good oldscreen villain Gary Oldman. I was pleasantly surprised to see thatOldman wasn't in 'Air Force One' mode, he pulled his performance withsome restraint, and he was a joy to watch.Washington was what i expected, good as ever, not saying much to beginwith, but coming in to his all come the end.With Silver on the production line, it was quality viewing, the storywas up to scratch and the narrative was quite good. The same could notbe said for the editing though, and it was blatantly bad in somescenes.For those who have seen it, the ending is good, and thinking about therest of the film, it's pretty obvious what the ending was going to be,with all the connotations hinting at the outcome.It's not going to be up there with Washingtons best, and doesn't havemany things about it to be very memorable, but it's a fun film towatch, and a good start to the year.

PopcornJury 2012-05-22 10:00:21

An Underwhelming Post-Apocalyptic Mess of a Movie

I love post-apocalyptic films. In fact, John Hillcoat's The Road was myfavorite film of 2009 (close tie with Up in the Air). There's somethingabout the idea that humankind turns evil in response to a disaster, andwe can't help but wish for a hero to bring back hope. With a title likeBook of Eli, hope is the first thing that came to mind. Couple thatwith a trailer that showcased mild violence at the hand of a sword, andI thought we were dealing with a first of it's kind: a post-apocalypticfilm with religious overtones in the vein of a graphic novel. Icouldn't have been further from the truth. Book of Eli is neitherreligious nor graphic in nature, rather it is a film that builds itspremise around a surprise ending that provides nothing more than a fewcheap thrills at the expense of any type of story line.Book of Eli is about one man's journey to protect a secret. That manhappens to be Denzel Washington, and the secret he is protecting is aBible. We don't know where he's been and we don't know where he'sgoing, we simply know that his mission in life is to make sure the goodbook doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Why is this book so special?Because it's the last Bible on Earth, and those that want it don't aimto bring back life according to its scripture, they plan to use it torewrite history, their way, simply using god's word as a framework fordestruction.The film tries so hard to be simple, but it's messages are mixed in away that makes this an almost impossible to not get confused. In hisattempt to protect the Bible, we see the protagonist kill hundreds ofmen with his bare hands (with the help of a sword). There's no remorse,no regret, and no repercussions to what he does. Where does he learnhis superior fighting skills? We don't know. How did he obtain the goodbook? We don't know. How did the world get destroyed in the firstplace? We don't know. There are so many questions left unanswered thatwe're left unable to put pieces of the story together. Instead we'reexpected to watch aimlessly in hopes for a payoff. Guess what; thepayoff isn't there.I won't give away any details, but what I will say is this: there is a"surprise" near the end of Book of Eli. There's been movies that havedone the surprise well (Sixth Sense always comes to mind), but Book ofEli isn't one of them. What happens in the latter part of the filmliterally renders the previous two-thirds useless as it throws a knifein a premise that I didn't think could have any more holes.All in all, Book of Eli is an underwhelming entry into thepost-apocalyptic genre. It's not an action movie, it's not a drama, andit's not a thriller; it's simply a movie about a man with no motiveswalking around the desert in dismay. Nothing good comes out of hisbattle, no hope is brought back to humanity, and no truths are enactedfrom the Scripture. This film may be about the good book, but the filmis extremely bad. Stay away from this and rent The Road or Winter'sBone; both films post-apocalyptic but with a purpose and a pulse.For more reviews, visit http://www.popcornjury.comMichael Buffa-Editor, Popcorn Jury

bdcervetti 2012-05-21 07:42:11

A Worthy Film that was Wrongly Martyred

Just for starters, I would like to address everyone who reviews themovie claiming that it is religious propaganda: This movie was directedby an atheist. There is no religious propaganda, and it's foolish tojudge a movie's worth based on your own religious or politicalpreferences.I would say that it's easy to see where the notion of religiouspropaganda comes from. However, the movie was directed by an atheistwho has stated in interviews that propaganda was not at all his intent,and people should stop giving it a rating of 1 star based solely onthis reason.And for people who argue that it is ridiculous and offensive to assumethat humanity will fall into depravity without the Bible, just look atthe movie The Road. In that movie, it revealed how mankind would indeedfall into depravity, but people didn't become enraged about humanity'sdesolate state in that movie. Only once the Bible is involved didpeople become indignant and erringly perceive the movie as a personalattack.But as for the movie itself, I found it a very interesting journey andan intriguing idea. Being one who is fascinated by original stories andideas, I found this story captivating. And on top of that, Denzel'sacting further sold the whole story.The art direction is beautiful. I have rarely been willing to labeldesolate wasteland as 'beautiful' or 'artistic,' but this sceneryreally is. It really is thought provoking to see the effects a nuclearholocaust could have on our world. And the music from the film is verylikely to be forever imprinted on my memory! Hauntingly beautiful.Now as for some questionable continuity errors, yes, those exist, butthey are not enough to hold the movie back. Again, people who arebiased against the movie for addressing religion decided to pick apartthe movie and all the mistakes when continuity errors are present inevery movie ever made.But one of the main things I was disappointed with was the copiousamount of slow motion shots. I can understand a movie like 300 wherethe slow motion is necessary due to the amount of action on screen, butin Book of Eli, the majority of slow motion shots are simply of Denzelwalking. This adds to the film's length, which I feel was also a bittoo long. Book of Eli ended up lasting 120 minutes, when it could havedelivered its story in 90 or 100 minutes.Also, some of the lines are cheesy/stereotypical and a few of thecharacters ridiculous, but I believe that these were to be taken ascomic relief.But all in all, I feel that this movie is a very well-developedexperience that should not be missed. Yes, it comes with its goofs anderrors, and yes, it falls into the stereotypical Hollywoodcookie-cutter at times, but that doesn't stop it from succeeding whereother movies falter.

2012-05-20 13:13:50

The Twilight Zone Episode You Never Saw

Of the two post-apocalyptic movies released in the last year -- "The Book of Eli" and "The Road" -- I think I enjoyed "Eli" much more.That's because it plays almost like a Twilight Zone episode -- or the first "Planet of the Apes" movie, written if my memory serves me by Rod Serling -- with a neat twist (or two or three) at the end."Eli" is beautifully photographed in bleak shades of brown, and it features an excellent cast, with splendid turns by Denzel as the bad-ass survivor on a sacred mission, Gary Oldman as the villain Carnegie, and Mila Kunis as, well, the eye candy (and eventually Eli's companion on his journey).The fight scenes are topnotch as well, and not too bloody, considering the amount of carnage.I have deducted a star only because of the absence of extras on the DVD. This practice must stop! Presumably the studio will release an enhanced version in five or ten years featuring the extras that should have been included from day one.So you might want to rent this or borrow it from your public library first. And buy it when the "deluxe" edition finally and inevitably hits the shelves.In conclusion, this is a much better film than the grumpy critics allowed, but my favorites, Ebe and Gliebe (Roger Ebert and Owen Glieberman) liked it, and my faith in the opinions of those esteemed gentleman was again rewarded.

danawall 2012-05-17 00:54:19

Hated It!

The Book of Eli is one of those movies going in you expect to have aprofound effect on your life. The message is noteworthy and the cast isexceptional. But this movie is seriously one of the worst movies I'veseen in 10 years. It has the same scenes and action over and over againand never really builds to that climax at the end. It is depressing asthe world is black and white. It was like sitting through your worstnightmare. I wanted to walk out, but you're always curious about themessage and what happens at the end. I was neither blown away by theending or moved in any way by this movie. It was a dark depressingversion of the world in 30 years. I hope people realize that beyond thespiritual message, the movie itself is a huge waste of $10 and anevening out.

2012-05-16 14:25:07

Excellant movie

This review is from: The Book Of Eli (Rental Ready) (DVD) Great action and thriller. Leaves you on the edge of your seat to what is going to happen next. Excellant Denzel Washington movie.

CharlieBrill 2012-05-14 02:58:07

Biblical

I'm always apprehensive with post-apocalyptic films. At some level,these stories are usually very depressing. But this film was different.It was dark, but not depressing. It showed an understanding and lovefor the words and power of Scripture. People should and will bedesperate to have these words. These words don't just inspire, but theytruly do bring life because they are from God. What I also saw was a superior understanding in this movie is thatthese Words in the Book can't speak for themselves. In the wrong hands,these words can be abused. We see that in history. People have used theBible for their own means: Jewish Rabbis, the Apostles, Constantine,the Crusades, the English kings, the American fathers, Hitler, etc. Wecan all use these words for good and bad purposes. We're human, andthese words are truly from God. This story shows in perspective thatGod wants to protect His words, and he will even use a man physicallyincapable of the mission to deliver that message just to show that itcame from Him. It's a fictional story, but I see that as a veryrealistic story. God wants to protect His words, as should we. Hiswords inspire us to cling to Him and not be consumed by our frailties.His words bring life so that we can be free from the life that can soeasily beat us. He uses broken people to deliver these Truths, and heeven came Himself to earth to display that life for us. The character of Eli in this film embodies a man protecting that Truthwith his life. I don't know if I'll ever face that, but I would hopethat God could give me and others the courage and desire to protectthose words. By any means necessary? Remember always that the Cross ismeant to sow peace with God and man. It's His olive branch. Will warscontinue? Is Scripture all about peace and love? My only answer is thatour hope is in the things to come that God can fix and we can't. Mygreatest hope is for peace. Stories about an optimistic future bring somuch inspiration and joy to me (like Star Trek), but optimism and joyshould not be my god. "The Book" should not even by my god. The wordsshould point me to God so that I can see my failures and cling to thevictory that He fought for me: the fight I couldn't fight. Eli foughtthe good fight, stayed on the journey, and finished his mission fromGod all by the strength of God. So obvious. So cool.

2012-05-13 13:20:18

Fallout for those that don't play video games

This is a movie that seemed aspire to being Fallout 3, it is a good or atleast decent knockoff off Fallout 3. It is incredibly similar:Post-apacoliptic settin, checkA wandering hero, checkreligious references, checka burnt wasteland, checkwater being fought over, checkBandits and raiders, checka militaristic group gathering and perserving knowledge, checkCanibals, checkTo me this is a Fallout 3 knockoff but is that really such a bad thing?

2012-05-13 05:01:41

Surprisingly good

There's something about Denzel Washington that makes just about anything he appears in all the cooler. Take The Book of Eli for example: a post-apocalyptic action vehicle that comes off being better than it rightfully should be thanks to the starpower of Washington, who plays the enigmatic, and dangerous, wanderer Eli. Eli is westward bound and carrying a precious text that soon becomes coveted by the maniacal Carnegie (Gary Oldman) after Eli sets foot in his town. It isn't long before Eli and young Solara (Mila Kunis) are on the run, all the while dodging other hazards of the barren wasteland. While The Book of Eli hardly offers anything new to the post-apocalyptic thriller or action genres, it does feature some gorgeous cinematography and camera work, as well as the most inspired direction to come from The Hughes Brothers since Menace II Society. The action sequences are violent and surprisingly creative, and Washington manages to be equal parts charasmatic and stoic: he truly makes the film as worthwhile as it is. Oldman is his usual good villainous self, Kunis is easy on the eyes, and supporting turns from Ray Stevenson, Jennifer Beals, and Tom Waits round things out nicely. All in all, if you're hoping that The Book of Eli is another The Road, you're sadly mistaken, but if you set your sights a bit lower, you'll come out plesantly surprised.

2012-05-13 00:54:04

Great movie, ignore the haters

This movie took me by suprise. I was told it was so so by a friend. HE WAS WRONG. I was very quickly drawn into this film. The soundtrack is haunting and very well done. The flow of the movie very organic, never rushing along for the sake of action. And the action in this movie is top notch by the way. There are twists in this movie that suprised even me. Worth more than one viewing for sure. Dont be thrown off my people who rate this film poorly due to religious views (obnoxious). If the book was hiding the secrets to an alien race of cyborg soldiers, nobody would complain. Great movie. Cool concept. Original story. Great acting. Awesome action. Enough said. Rent it at least. Then you'll probably want to buy it.

2012-05-12 17:47:23

Thinker or a Stinker?

SPOILERS...SPOILERS...SPOILERS!!!!!"The Book of Eli" was an incredible movie in the sense that it delivers what it sets out to deliver...a tight story with exceptional actors and a quite subversive and bleak atmosphere. I was faced with a dilemma in viewing this movie that I noticed only one other reviewer picked up on (he gave the movie one star). If Eli, played very adeptly by Denzel Washington, had wholly memorized the bible, then why wasn't he applying the teachings in the good book to his daily life? Why did he stand by in ignorance while a woman was brutally raped only yards from where he was hiding, especially if he KNEW that he was protected and untouchable? It's not like he had to fear for his life. He knew that God had appointed him as a messenger, and that His hand was covering him. Protection is one thing, but why go around killing people when the very book you are safekeeping clearly states that murder is unholy and sinful? Was there no way to talk his way out of those situations? I'm fairly certain that God would have provided Eli the "gift of gab" just as well as he provided him the ability to kill thirty armed and burly men in thirty seconds. There are more questions along these lines, but why bore you with monotony?Why five stars then, you ask?Simple...this was probably one of the most entertaining movies of the year for me. Here's why:1. Mila Kunis has really become quite the actress, and she is most enjoyable to watch, as she is in EVERYTHING she does. Gary Oldman is perfectly cast and very much in his element, and Denzel Washington is top-notch as the hero in this unlikely role.2. All the questions in the first paragraph can be explained in only one way...the answer?THE HUMAN CONDITIONEli, being human, was so focused on the mission at hand that he missed everything the bible told him as he read it. The saying goes something like "Can't see the forest for the trees." Doesn't that happen every single day to every single bible-guided person out there? Freewill breeds sin, and within sin is the human condition to "Look out for number one" rather than put others before yourself. Eli even told Solara that what he had taken away from everything he had read in the bible was to put others before yourself, but yet, just as all of us are prone to do, he didn't necessarily practice what he preached on a day-to-day basis.So instead of focusing on the position Mr. One-Star review took on the movie, which is thinking that since Eli memorized the bible, he should be perfect, I choose to look at it from the next view AFTER that point-of-view. Eli could only do the best that he could do with what he was given...for after all, HE WAS ONLY HUMAN.One more note of interest...HE WAS BLIND!

jjgurd 2012-05-12 11:17:39

Unoriginal, weak plot, poor characters and pretty average acting

In expectation of the soon to be released film version of CormacMcCarthy's 'The Road', the post-apocalyptic story behind The Book ofEli grabbed my attention.Having watched the film, I now think I wasted 2 hrs of my life. Theplot is a poor rip off of The Road, just substitute a few charactersbut the general story is incredibly similar. The only difference isthat this film seemingly has no real point, no satisfactory conclusionor end point and no soul. Uncanny then that it was released around thesame time.The characters and visual effects have been 'borrowed' from Mad Max,the plot from The Road and strung together with a barely creditableperformance from Denzel Washington. There are some completely randomand incongruous cameos from respected actors like Michael Gambon andI'm guessing by Malcolm Mcdowell's involvement (seemingly using the Docfrom Back To The Future's stylist..) that his pension is running short.Add some eye candy to entice those who don't need compelling plot orcredible characters, season with some basic and uninspiring visualeffects and you've got The Book of Eli.About the only positive for me was that the cinema was warm on awinter's night and I quite enjoyed the pick'n'mix. Tom Waits gets thenod as the best acting performance but he didn't face too muchcompetition.One of the worst films I've seen in a long time. I know post-apocalypsefilms are meant to be bleak but this was simply void of anything toengage my mind or offer anything of interest.

2012-05-07 02:20:04

Excellent!!!

This review is from: The Book of Eli (Amazon Instant Video) The Book of Eli is a fascinating experience into a post-apocalyptic world where violence and cannibalism is commonplace. In this film, Denzel Washington pulls off another great performance. Gary Oldman is downright entertaining and of course never disappointing. Their performances were undeniably compelling. The Hughes Brothers did an exceptional job with the fight scenes. Oh, and I cannot forget the cinematography - WOW! The cinematography was simply breathtaking!

2012-05-06 05:47:27

Book of boring

This review is from: The Book of Eli (DVD) I've seen better! Denzel made the movie and if it wasn't for his action scenes, I would have fallen asleep very early. This movie starts off with 'Go Figure', in terms of guess what happened to mother earth? Don't take my word, see it for yourself.

2012-05-06 20:42:47

give me a break

Oh please walking around killing people to save a bible. This was a stupid movie. The only ones that will like it are church people. I thought it was bad writing and nothing but an up to date movie of "Mad Max". But with more killing. If you are looking for a lot of killing go rent "saw". Shame on you Denzel for agreeing to this movie.

2012-05-06 07:23:02

Weak, Very Weak

*** This review may contain spoilers ***On the whole, I have not been impressed with Denzel's body of work since he won his second Oscar for Training Day (Snap Case), and this film does nothing to reverse that trend.In this, he plays a lone warrior wandering a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but unlike most other protagonists in films like this, he actually has a place to go and something to do. I won't say where he's going or why, but he's been doing it for over 30 years, which quite possibly makes him the hero with the worst sense of direction ever (has he ever heard of a map and compass?). But I digress.It starts interestingly enough, establishing his character in some ways you don't usually see. Of course he is a good fighter, as you have to be in a world like this, but then he unheroically leaves a couple of fellow wanderers to the untender mercies of some roaming bikers after dealing with a larger group of bandits. What, now he's afraid to fight? I suppose that, given his purpose, that can be excused, but that's still a bit hard to swallow.Anyway, he comes across a small town ruled by the iron fist of Gary Oldman, whose great power is that he can...read. That's not a typo, he can read, and that is apparently all the power he needs. We never once see him do anything that shows his evil nature, unless you count him raising his voice against a couple of women and pulling on the hair of a blind Jennifer Beals. Come on, this is Gary Oldman, the King of Psychotic Villains, and this is the best you can do with him?I could go on with other problems, such as there being no final showdown in the third act or Denzel's ability to survive a gut shot long after he should have been dead, but frankly I can't go any further. The more I type, the more I realize exactly how much this movie sucked and the less chance I have of forgetting that I saw it. About the only good thing about this movie the "sacred" item he had and a few neat twists at the end, but definitely not worth the price of admission.

Bianca 2012-05-04 06:09:22

An Objective Opinion

What struck me about this movie was the message it carried. Thoughreligious, it was not overly Christian. It depicts everything that iswrong with religion in the world today (practiced en masse, used forpower and control, mindless and fear-inspiring) in contrast to the goodthat can come from it (basic moral guidelines, community structure, andsomething to believe in when you have nothing else), and I appreciatedthis a whole lot.That aside, I thought it was thrilling, well acted, and engaging. Thetwist near the end made me want to watch it again. Immediately.I took off two points for the following: (1) Poor editing in regards tothe beginning and end of the movie (just coulda been a bit better,y'know?), and (2) at the end the all-important book is shelved. Whatgood will it do there?

jsn_reece 2012-05-03 18:17:45

Fine piece of work

As the film begins,It started after some disaster.Washington who playsEli who has some kind of book that everyone wants to get their handson.Eli goes and tries to find whatever he can to get food.He comesacross outlaws who wants to rob him of everything including water.Hestops in a town which is controlled by a leader who Oldmen play as.AndRay Stevenson as his main henchmen.But you may remember the type ofmovies like cyborg and Mad Max 2.Later Eli teams up with a young womanwho he refuses with to take on his journey.Allthrough this filmdelivers quiet bit of bloody fights.Even though you may never guess atwhat or how it ends of this film.