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Rottenwatch: Book of Eli (GAF meltdown incoming?)

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I'll be watching it regardless of the reviews. Its for a gaffer.

If it matters Gary, I've heard tons of people interested, especially on the radio.
 
whytemyke said:
(Sidenote: saw one couple get up and walk out when the twist was revealed. I just laughed. They could handle everything else
(cat hunting, rape, cannibalism)
but that twist is what ruined it for them? Come on! :lol)
Click to expand...


That's really odd. An old couple in my theater did the exact same thing at about the same time.
 
So, in the commercial previews where the last thing you see is the world 'Believe'.... I'm gonna go ahead and take that as a Gaf shout out =)
 
So from what I've read, the critics who didn't like this thought it was a worse version of The Road with more action?


Sounds like I'll like it then, because The Road just about bored me to sleep (and it's got 75%), so if it's a more lively version of that, then it might actually be good :lol
 
Just got back from a local show of it.

LOVED it. :D Probably one of my favorite movies of the past 5 years, and def my favorite Denzel Movie.
I'd would have loved it more if my local movie theater didn't suck so much ass, but I didn't want to drive 45mins each way to the better theater.

I cant wait for the Blu-Ray, and Gary please sign my Blu-Ray when it comes out. Ill pay shipping both ways! (and be eternally grateful!)

Gary one question, while writing this did you have anyone specific in mind for the parts?
If so who?
 
Hey Gary, just came back from seeing it and really liked it for the most part. I was a little wary that some of the themes in regards to
the power of religion and faith
were going to come across as heavy-handed, but fortunately I felt it didn't. I loved the
brail twist
and felt the action scenes were very well done; Washington plays a great badass.
 
I'm sorry, Gary, but
you expect me to believe he was Daredevil?
No, I can't do it. It felt absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary. I loved the first 3/4 of the movie (give or take), so I look forward to your future work. Better luck winning me over next time.
 
StoOgE said:
Yeah, but you named one of the single most important and prominent roles in the production of a film.
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I understand why you were confused after my initial post, but still? Reading comprehension. Do you have it.
 
I fully expected a
"he memorized it"/Fahrenheit-451
twist, but I didn't call it fully. And after one viewing, I'm not sure you could. I didn't think
Eli being blind
was telegraphed at all, and I'm not so sure it was necessary beyond being a plot device for dashing Oldman's hopes.

In that respect, I pretty much agree with Gilgamesh above, but I do think it was fairly good overall. I especially dug the score.
 
Well the way i took the whole thing like i said in the other thread was
if god really did talk to him, and protect him, there is also a chance he was given the gift of sight. For whatever reason either he lost that sight at the end of the movie as they closed into his eye, or he could still see, and the film was just pointing out how his retinas were all fucked up. He obviously lost the sight from the flash everyone kept talking about. However, if this is some Sixth Sense type of shit where you have to go back and see if he really looks at people, then i don't buy it at all. He was too natural. It seemed as if the director told Denzel to just act like he could see fine.
 
The truth behind the ending:
He could see fine but on his iPod was the Bible as a book on tape which he used to memorize it. The real twist is that the twist is fake.
I got it right, huh, Gary? Yeah, I figured you out, bro. You can't pull the wool over these eagle eyes.
 
~Kinggi~ said:
Well the way i took the whole thing like i said in the other thread was
if god really did talk to him, and protect him, there is also a chance he was given the gift of sight. For whatever reason either he lost that sight at the end of the movie as they closed into his eye, or he could still see, and the film was just pointing out how his retinas were all fucked up. He obviously lost the sight from the flash everyone kept talking about. However, if this is some Sixth Sense type of shit where you have to go back and see if he really looks at people, then i don't buy it at all. He was too natural. It seemed as if the director told Denzel to just act like he could see fine.
Click to expand...
It seemed to me like he trained himself to look at things even though he couldn't see. That way he could keep his blindness a secret and it wouldn't be exposed as a weakness of his to others.

Also, anyone know the name of the song he listened to on his i-pod in the beginning?
 
I thought the movie was pretty good, not what I expected it to be, but good none the less!

I did enjoy the twist, as both my friend and I thought
Eli gave Carnegie just the book cover and kept the bible hidden somewhere

I think I understand why
he died at the end. I assume he was meant to be a martyr, someone to bring the word of god back to the people, and so he recited it to a listener, and when it was all copied and printed, and he could go be with god.

Anyone agree with me on that??
 
Just got back from seeing and it was awesome. I totally didn't call
him being blind and the old cannibals were fuckin hilarious
:lol :lol
 
I wish only success for Gary Whitta, but this film's being treated by Neogaf like it was made in a basement for $1,000.

Give the guy a chance!
 
I just got back from seeing it. I really enjoyed this movie. Fantastic job, Gary! My friends all liked it as well. I would recommend it to anyone.
 
Panda Bear said:
It seemed to me like he trained himself to look at things even though he couldn't see. That way he could keep his blindness a secret and it wouldn't be exposed as a weakness of his to others.

Also, anyone know the name of the song he listened to on his i-pod in the beginning?
Click to expand...


There are a number of
hints that im remembering now that point to him being blind, which unfortunately makes this movie kinda suck now. His sense of smell when he smelled the bandits, him feeling for people's shoes (although i don't quite know how he knew some guy was hanging dead in the closet.) He was always wearing glasses. But he acted so naturally with the other actors i just cant buy it.
 
~Kinggi~ said:
There are a number of
hints that im remembering now that point to him being blind, which unfortunately makes this movie kinda suck now. His sense of smell when he smelled the bandits, him feeling for people's shoes (although i don't quite know how he knew some guy was hanging dead in the closet.) He was always wearing glasses. But he acted so naturally with the other actors i just cant buy it.
Click to expand...
You ever smelled a dead body, or anything dead? Hard to miss.

There was also that quote about walking with sight and walking with faith or whatever that was. He claimed that a voice led him to the Bible, it's entirely within that realm of possibility that he was guided in that same way for his entire journey. He also said that the voice told him that both Eli and Solara would make it out of that shootout with the cannibals and the goons alive, which implies that it was an active source of information for him constantly. Which would also be a more plausible explanation for his dictation of the bible within the universe of the movie. If he was already being spoken to by god, then he wouldn't have needed to memorize the Bible, he may have simply been repeating it as he heard it.

Just some speculation.
 
Just got back from the theater. Definitely enjoyed it. Well done, Gary! Hoping for the best for you.

+nailed the atmosphere, lots of impressive shots
+soundtrack was great
+Denzel was awesome, as expected
+good performances all around
+fight scenes

Not really a negative, but it starts off pretty slow. Took awhile for things to really get going and for me to get into it more. That's totally to be expected with this kind of movie, though.

Any reviewers hating on it because of it being heavy-handed or something don't have a clue what they're talking about. I found the material surprising but it didn't come off as preachy. Kind of refreshing actually. Hopefully it doesn't put off too many people.

My only gripe (or at least the only thing that immediately sticks out) is
Mila trying to look like a badass (like Eli basically) and heading back home. Seemed a bit cheesy and didn't make sense. But maybe I'm missing something.

I'd certainly watch it again, fwiw.
 
I don't think
he was blind, I do believe his vision was messed up. Think about this. Why would Gary Oldman still be able to see?
 
Heezzi said:
I don't think
he was blind, I do believe his vision was messed up. Think about this. Why would Gary Oldman still be able to see?
Click to expand...

Realistically,
Eli was probably blind before the war anyway. I doubt enough people were left living to teach him to read braille at that point.
 
Unfortunately, someone spoiled it for me a long time ago. I had forgotten about it until watching it, right after the opening "cat" scene. After knowing it then, I gotta say, you guys did a great friggin job for repeat viewings. I didn't find anything that contradicted the revelation :)

Also really liked the movie in general. Far too many times these movies become "the good guys vs the crazies", but at least you gave the "crazies" some character and some class (how they let Eli stay the night in the hopes he'll stay).

The actual part that made it click that he was blind was when he was in the first house, and stumbled with the gun as he was putting it on the chair. My brain went "Oh yeah! Wait, so was that real?" I just went the entire movie watching for any indication that he could see and saw none :) The only thing it seemed was that he still had his eyes trained so that he would look at the source of sound/people so as to not show them his weakness.

All in all, great job. Eagerly anticipating what you do next ;)

Heezzi said:
I don't think
he was blind, I do believe his vision was messed up. Think about this. Why would Gary Oldman still be able to see?
Click to expand...

I always thought that, as was said in the movie
some people wen't blind by looking at the flashes. His body seems to indicate that he got heavily burned, so perhaps he took a shockwave/blast which messed him up pretty good. Its also plausible that he was in his teens when this happened, and had either his father/mother or someone who taught him brail. He did say that he found the book a year later, when "they" came back out from underground.
 
You know, I knew there was a poster named Gary Whitta on here, had no idea it was actually the same guy. :lol

Saw it tonight, thought it was phenomenal, great job my man.
 
Seth C said:
Realistically,
Eli was probably blind before the war anyway. I doubt enough people were left living to teach him to read braille at that point.
Click to expand...
Probably, because
when they were in that abandoned silo and he was telling that story, didn't he refer to the bombs going off by saying "*they* say it tore a hole in the sky" or whatever?
 
Jayge said:
Probably, because
when they were in that abandoned silo and he was telling that story, didn't he refer to the bombs going off by saying "*they* say it tore a hole in the sky" or whatever?
Click to expand...

He did. There are lots of little bits like this, I imagine.
 
Just got back from seeing the movie.

Overall I think the movie is pretty dang good, man. The beginning started out a bit slow, but I was cool with it. Perhaps when I see it again I'll appreciate more of what that opening bit does in regards to the overall movie.

Very interesting.

There were definitely nods to what was eventually the reveal throughout the whole movie, but as others have mentioned, it almost appears as though Eli was fully capable of sight. I'll need another rewatch to basically see how it was acted out. You could say he was guided by his faith, which really should be all the explanation one would need to give, however I can understand why I've seen comments in here about how it he just seemed normal throughout.

Very cool reveal of the book being written in Braille. The alternating shots of Denzel and Oldman were sweet.

Well done, Gary. Well done.
 
Wow. Great movie. The soundtrack was phenomenal. And yeah, Gary, you had me at
the book being braille. I was sure those pages would be blank!
:lol

For those who had a problem with the twist, my immediate reaction is
how is being blind so far-fetched considering the way he fights in the entire movie? Denzel was basically a Counterstrike genius with the most hand-to-hand combat training I've seen since Neo. He even takes a bullet and tapes himself up!

'Eli' is a man driven by pure faith, and it's that concept that allows me to believe in everything he does in the movie, twist included.
 
Too bad I can't see this in theaters as the theaters around here FUCKING SUCK at subtitling films I want to see.

*sigh* Have to wait until the DVD. :(
 
Just got from seeing it. I thought is was good. definitely a movie i need to see twice
just to see if i can notice stuff from knowing the twist
 
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.
 
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