Didn't love the movie... Had a lot of the same problems evil had with it... I just can't buy the twist, but that wasn't what made the movie bad for me. I had a huge problems with the direction of the movie, and while there where aspects I liked about the movie... There are just too many inconsistenties with the story (and the twist only compounds that).
I have a hard time believing he was both blind and protected by god (or incredibly lucky)
Alright, heading out to see Eli. A couple of unmarked spoilers ruined what seem like big plot points (thanks a lot guys!) and took my enthusiasm down several notches in the process, but I still hope to come out pleasantly surprised. My expectations are kinda low.
There were also other things that just made the pacing look fucked up.
Why did the scene in the silo end with Mila saying "then teach me?" That entire thing was unresolved. He never said no. She never pressed it. It was just strange. Also, the fucking steel-covered tank car jalopy was able to drive all the way to California? And the greenery just... starts? I looked over at my buddy and said "welcome to california!" in that Arnold voice from the commercial when we saw that. I was like "wut." There were definitely a lot of cuts that could have been made and smaller scenes that could have been added that would have helped the flow and made the movie a lot more believable. I can't tell whether it was the writing or the directing though, because for the most part the writing seemed excellent and the directing looked incredibly solid but these were just too odd to ignore.
And after all that, I still really liked the movie. Go figure :lol
Alright, heading out to see Eli. A couple of unmarked spoilers ruined what seem like big plot points (thanks a lot guys!) and took my enthusiasm down several notches in the process, but I still hope to come out pleasantly surprised. My expectations are kinda low.
I just saw the movie tonight, and I liked it overall, though I thought Mila Kunis was kind of annoying at times. Denzel Washington did a good job, basically made the movie (along with Gary Oldman presumably). It's kind of neat to see a NeoGAF poster wrote it.
I didn't even think about the car driving
all the way to California
, but who knows where they started. My bigger question was, if Eli had been walking
for 30 years, how had he not reached the coast yet?
On an ending spoiler note,
are there any subtleties to the ending I might have missed? I almost thought it was implying that Eli was blind, but thinking back through earlier scenes I feel like there had to be one or two (ESPECIALLY him being surprised by the hanging corpse) where he would have had to be able to see, not just use superhuman hearing and smell, even though those senses were obviously keen.
Also for general continuity, everyone was wearing goggles, but sometimes they seemed hardly to keep the light out (like on Carnegie), and sometimes people went long stretches of time without wearing them with no apparent negative effects. Of course, maybe they'd have to be days without them to go blind? Dunno.
One more spoilery question:
were there any subtleties about when Eli got shot? I thought I saw lightning flash on the right side of the screen when it happened, which was cool, but was he supposed to just be hurt but not fatally hurt?
*edit* Ok, looked back a page or two, yes, there seem to be lots of plot holes or semi-unbelievable elements even if there were actual supernatural forces involved in the movie. I guess I mostly didn't mind it, even though it could have probably been better, maybe even a lot better. One more question, after that vehicle flipped,
how did the bald guy get the knife in his chest? Was Solara supposed to have stabbed him or was it an accident?
Yea, I forgot to comment on one thing: This is the first movie in a long time that made me appreciate the simple things in life - the ability to read, for instance. I was thinking how much of a privilege it would be if I was one of the only people left on the world that could actually read. Then I thought about the value on a particular area/item/ability and why that value appreciates or depreciates.
The thing about this movie is that it didn't necessarily make me want to only analyze the intricacies of the movie's theme (like a lot of movies tend to do), but it helped me to analyze larger themes that were not necessarily part of the main theme of the movie.
I just saw the movie tonight, and I liked it overall, though I thought Mila Kunis was kind of annoying at times. Denzel Washington did a good job, basically made the movie (along with Gary Oldman presumably). It's kind of neat to see a NeoGAF poster wrote it.
I didn't even think about the car driving
all the way to California
, but who knows where they started. My bigger question was, if Eli had been walking
for 30 years, how had he not reached the coast yet?
On an ending spoiler note,
are there any subtleties to the ending I might have missed? I almost thought it was implying that Eli was blind, but thinking back through earlier scenes I feel like there had to be one or two (ESPECIALLY him being surprised by the hanging corpse) where he would have had to be able to see, not just use superhuman hearing and smell, even though those senses were obviously keen.
Also for general continuity, everyone was wearing goggles, but sometimes they seemed hardly to keep the light out (like on Carnegie), and sometimes people went long stretches of time without wearing them with no apparent negative effects. Of course, maybe they'd have to be days without them to go blind? Dunno.
One more spoilery question:
were there any subtleties about when Eli got shot? I thought I saw lightning flash on the right side of the screen when it happened, which was cool, but was he supposed to just be hurt but not fatally hurt?
*edit* Ok, looked back a page or two, yes, there seem to be lots of plot holes or semi-unbelievable elements even if there were actual supernatural forces involved in the movie. I guess I mostly didn't mind it, even though it could have probably been better, maybe even a lot better. One more question, after that vehicle flipped,
how did the bald guy get the knife in his chest? Was Solara supposed to have stabbed him or was it an accident?
the camera specifically panned on it when he placed it on the dash, with the blade facing towards him. I immediately guessed that what happened to him would happen to him when I saw that.
I thought the Mila Kunis/Denzel Washington relationship was essentially a walking cliché -
I mean, you really want me to believe that he's going to give it up to save her life after all this time just because he "forgot its teachings" and explain it away that easily?
As Eli said, he got too caught up in protecting his book that he forgot the good things he learned from it. This was a great development in his character as earlier he just allowed that girl to be raped and killed by Carnegie's gang because he needed to "stay on the path." I thought this was a great commentary on religion in general as well. There are good aspects of love, peace and compassion in religion among all the outdated dogma and fundamentalism. Just as Eli forgot the important things he learned from his book, some religious people get caught up in the dogma and organized aspects of their religions and forget the positive teachings that are there too.
Watched the movie in the afternoon. I went with two coworkers. They hated the movie. I left middle of the road. I'm not sure how I feel about the film.
Plus:
Color and style
Denzel Washington with a compelling performance
Action was good
Movie is polarizing and thought provoking.
Good soundtrack, especially the opening and ending music.
Negatives:
Thin character development, which would've helped fill in holes and help the plot.
Retarded ending (as mentioned ad nauseum).
Weak performances by the rest of the cast.
Hmm...so the Earth wouldn't be able to heal in 30 years from a nuclear attack? I ask this simply because I've walked in Hiroshima and not grown a third eye.
Alright, heading out to see Eli. A couple of unmarked spoilers ruined what seem like big plot points (thanks a lot guys!) and took my enthusiasm down several notches in the process, but I still hope to come out pleasantly surprised. My expectations are kinda low.
Just got back from seeing this with a fellow member of GAF (captain nemo) and we both thought the movie was completely awesome.
Thanks for telling an awesome story Gary. The visuals were fantastic and I hope they did your story justice. Oh and Denzel's scenes with his machete were amazing.
Will definitely be picking this up on blu-ray when this hits.
After seeing the RT aggregate I was dreading/doubting whether or not we should see this but curiosity overtook me. I'm very glad it did.
The atmosphere and setting are engrossing enough that none of the minor plot nitpicks (ie how exactly did Solara get out) annoyed me. Will think/read more about the plot holes in the backstory that a few people brought up but they never occurred to me as I was watching and didn't hinder my enjoyment of the film
I regret not entering the poster/soundtrack giveaway but I'll definitely be picking up the blu-ray day one. Add me to the group that wants Gary to sign their copy
You guys are a tough crowd. I thought it was a pretty good movie. Things could have been changed, sure, but goddamn, some of you guys are overanalyzing it. Are plot holes really that unacceptable? It's just a movie.:lol
It's dumb because the movie established that she's not a capable fighter, having been completely overpowered by two men after a short time on the road alone. The suggestion that picking up a melee weapon and a jacket would amend that situation is stupid. Like someone else said, if the movie ran ten more minutes, she's have been killed and eaten.
And lemme tee off on something Evilore touched on, because while I had a lot of issues with the movie, this one undercut the premise completely and made it impossible for me to take the movie as seriously as it wanted me to take it.
So there's this huge national campaign to burn bibles after survivors crawl out of their holes some time after the nukes. Who organized it? How did they organize it? Even 30 years later it's clear communication infrastructure has not been restored one iota. Everyone in every town burned every bible? This implies a level of organization, mobilization and communication not present in the world even 30 years later, much less right after a nuclear apocalypse. And I struggle to rationalize how that would be a priority for the survivors of a nuclear holocaust; wouldn't trying to survive and rebuild kinda be important? I get there's a message about religion, but I have to be able to suspend my disbelief, and I couldn't get that far.
In general the movie presents a version of post-apocalyptic society I find very implausible, not to mention uninteresting. 30 years on and that's still the state of things? Bah. I didn't like much about Book of Eli, from the acting to the directing and pacing. But the premise just struck me as absurd.
This is a fairly original premise for a movie, Whitta, I will give you that.
Edit: In addition, I compliment this movie for getting what I thought was a pretty decent performance out of Mila Kunis. I think that she has acting talent that we've not yet seen; I hope that she gets some meaty material at some point.
just got back from watching the film and i loved it
the setting was amazing and of course denzel and gary oldman stole the show
btw i think this movie will do quite well since the theater i was in was packed and my sister and her bf are going to see it and they almost never care to see a movie in theaters(i cant convince them to freaking watch avatar :lol)
Saw it with my brother last night. Denzel and the Hughes brothers made it somewhat entertaining, but they could only do so much with the poor writing/premise. Also, that twist at the end was one of the dumbest and most unnecessary I've ever seen. Holy shit. Somewhere M Night is tipping his hat to this movie.
Have to say from the people who are "shocked" at Eli being blind
What--the--EFF?
The entire movie you see him feeling around (from the first scene in the car!)
Every time you see him with the book he has his hand on the pages
etc.
THIS ISN'T A BLINDSIDE...
Sorry its just... like you'd have to be blind not to notice it. When I saw it this was determined in a matter of moments and a non shocking revelation. The guy next to me said after the 2nd view of the bible that it was in braille.
It's dumb because the movie established that she's not a capable fighter, having been completely overpowered by two men after a short time on the road alone. The suggestion that picking up a melee weapon and a jacket would amend that situation is stupid. Like someone else said, if the movie ran ten more minutes, she's have been killed and eaten.
Also for general continuity, everyone was wearing goggles, but sometimes they seemed hardly to keep the light out (like on Carnegie), and sometimes people went long stretches of time without wearing them with no apparent negative effects.
Yeah, I'm avoiding this thread because of the unmarked spoilers. I knew some stuff about the movie, but damn. I think there's some parts that are ruined for me now. I'm going to try and see it tomorrow!
I got inside the theater around 7 and there were like 20 people max, but by 7:30 it was packed. Movie was awesome and will continue to support it.
I got a question:
After he gets to Alcatraz does Eli get the book into written form and just die from the gunshot wound or what? And also just to clear things up so there was a war concerning region/the bible and then some the flash was nukes right?
Serves me right for not reading the source. i09 came that (wrong) conclusion on their own -- the dangers of original reporting in a post-fact-checker world.
I don't understand why Evilore didn't feel the need to extend the courtesy of marking his spoilers, but for everyone else to follow suit is just ridiculous. It's not that hard to do guys. Just use the tags.
This is why you avoid the threads about stuff you like till after you've seen it people
Saw the film this afternoon, thoroughly enjoyed it, then the twist blew my mind. Fucking awsome Mr. Whitta. I'll be recommending this to everyone at work tomorrow.
Yes, I could probably find somethings to pick away at, but that's the case for everything and in this instance I just don't want to - film was damned good as it was.
I don't understand why Evilore didn't feel the need to extend the courtesy of marking his spoilers, but for everyone else to follow suit is just ridiculous. It's not that hard to do guys. Just use the tags.
You guys are a tough crowd. I thought it was a pretty good movie. Things could have been changed, sure, but goddamn, some of you guys are overanalyzing it. Are plot holes really that unacceptable? It's just a movie.:lol
^ this. Movie GAF always amazes me at how every film is expected to be some intellectually challenging statement or something. Some stuff is just fun to watch.
Since my question was asked in the old thread right before it was locked, and I haven't seen it asked here...there was only big problem I had with the movie.
Since my question was asked in the old thread right before it was locked, and I haven't seen it asked here...there was only big problem I had with the movie.
Since my question was asked in the old thread right before it was locked, and I haven't seen it asked here...there was only big problem I had with the movie.
