Went to see 'The Road' and 'Book of Eli' on consecutive days. A minor case of deja vu there! That said, 'The Road' is a far superior film. 'Book of Eli' is a bit of a mixed bag. Has it's moments. Denzel is great. Wasn't a very engaging film, but it's watchable all the same. Sadly, the twist at the end is cringe-inducing. A twist that thinks it's far cleverer that it actually is. Still, it's worth a look.
It's not bad. Not great, either. If not for Denzel and Oldman, it would probably suck, to be honest...or at least end up being rather generic. The crowd seemed to enjoy it, but I felt a distinct lack of "big moments" to pull every theater-goer in as fully as possible. There were really only a few big moments, and since a majority of them have been done many times before, they didn't pack as powerful a punch as they should/could have.
So it's not going to alter lives or cause a widespread stir, but it's worth the price of admission.
Congrats to Gary Whitta for gaining sole writer credit on a Hollywood film with major stars.
This movie had ten opportunities to end well..but it kept going on, and on, and on...left you wondering why they didn't end the film when it SEEMED like they should be ending it.
Congrats to Gary Whitta for gaining sole writer credit on a Hollywood film with major stars.
That is indeed a major accomplishment of which he can be proud. Although being replaced is not necessarily a bad thing and it's a topic I may make a separate thread about later this week... Congrats, Gary.
reminded me of farenheit 451
saw one huge flaw: he was heading west and ran into the shopping cart decoy. then went to the town. left the town... heading west and then ran into the shopping cart decoy again. that was messed up storywise b/c that shopping cart didn't move. it was missing a wheel! lol!
Last edited by NikeeGoddess; 01-17-2010, 09:34 PM.
saw one huge flaw: he was heading west and ran into the shopping cart decoy. then went to the town. left the town... heading west and then ran into the shopping cart decoy again. that was messed up storywise b/c that shopping cart didn't move. it was missing a wheel! lol!
The setting was entirely different, so yeah, it did move, apparently.
That is indeed a major accomplishment of which he can be proud. Although being replaced is not necessarily a bad thing and it's a topic I may make a separate thread about later this week... Congrats, Gary.
Gary was replaced?
One newspaper in Blighty gave it zero stars. No way did the film deserve that score.
"What's worse than being talked about? Not being talked about."
No, he wasn't. EvilRbt was just saying that being replaced isn't necessarily bad.
Thanks for clarifying that, jboffer. It cold and wet here in LA this morning, so I did wind up writing a post which discusses the topic: The Lost Patrol: And Being Replaced.
It’s a nice-looking picture, in an aggressively ugly sort of way. Sort of like a spaghetti western with too much sauce. Although sometimes it feels like that's all there is in the moment. Lots of padding. It takes fifteen minutes to wander into the story and then there's lots of Eli moving in slow motion and high end music soaring. It almost seems to be embarrassed to be a pedestrian Mad Max with a Bible. Or maybe the directors were trying to make the padding look good. With the big reveal at the end, and trimmed down to an hour, the film'd feel right at home as an old episode of The Twilight Zone.
My main problem was that there wasn't any real conflict. Sure, people kept trying to take Eli's book away from him and he kept messing their shit up for trying, but... it's a book. Yeah, a very rare one, and with some amount of power. But it's a book. And as the big, goofy reveal shows...
HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER:
... not one worth dying over. Actually, since he had it memorized, it was really, really stupid to die over it. And the bit about him actually being blind entered everything into unnecessary silliness. Served absolutely no purpose. Didn't mesh with what came before, either.
Saw it opening and enjoyed it a great deal, and as a response to your complaint(Spoiler Alert) Signal I'll just say that it's an If/Than statement that's being said that is fairly simple that you failed to get or you're overlooking.
I rock it for Jesus and I'm in love.
Dreaming the impossible dream, working towards realizing it one day at a time.
Saw it opening and enjoyed it a great deal, and as a response to your complaint(Spoiler Alert) Signal I'll just say that it's an If/Than statement that's being said that is fairly simple that you failed to get or you're overlooking.
If I get what you're saying (and I think I do), then I did. Get it, that is. I just didn't think it worked. For me.
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