""Book of Eli"" Topic

Apocalyptic action adventure with Denzel. Not really the type of thing I like to see him in and I see it being a flop. Looks like "I am Legend' but without the zombies. Good to be anctor and get paid for such silliness. Also, not a bad perk working with Mila Kunis all day.

YouTube link

Fallout 3 crossed with "I am Legend". I guess they wanted a higher octane "The Road"? No matter, I'll see this one too.

Washington does seem to put across the world-weary yet still hard-core hero rather well.

I'll say. Man on Fire wrote a new chapter in that book.

I thought it looked better than "2012" in the preview at "Zombieland." What is it with the CGI? Does it drive directors crazy?

Directors LOVE CGI, no need for extensive sets or props. Producers do too!

Ok so yet another post-apocalypse story in which the tired, jaded, lone hero – the last hope/saviour of mankind – perseveres and survives against the odds and kills all the bad guys in combat along the way – this one apparently able to take out over half a dozen assailants with his bare hands.

So what's so special/different about this exactly that hasn't already been done over and over again? Talk about a tired formula.

I seriously am asking because that trailer is useless. It tells me nothing but that the film is post-apocalypse and has fighting in it. Big deal.

That's all you should need to know. Post-apocalypse: good. Fighting: good. Not revealing important plot elements: also good.

I suppose. But to me it just seems so…unoriginal. It's been done you know?

And yes, I realise one can say that about most movies, especially action movies, but some are less obvious than others, some deeper than others and some more inventive than others.

The Book of Eli just doesn't seem to have anything truly new or fresh about it. It looks old and tired before it starts. But then, I could be wrong. I have only seen the trailer after all. Maybe the actual film will be a refreshing surprise with a bold new slant. :).

I like post-Apocalypse films, and I like Denzel Washington, so it should be worth watching from my point of view.

Yep!

Just no satisfying people.

Either complaints that the trailer spoils the movie because it shows all the good parts of the film or reveals what could have been a great twist to the plot… Or…

It does not show enough and therefor (in this case) feeds into a tired formula one is assuming without what they would consider "enough" information.

C'mon, guys. The movie is "Book of Eli" and the trailer has at least one dude demanding the book from Denzel… It is supposed to have the key to redeem society. Are we not piqued at just what this book is and why post-apoc survivors want it? Is it the last Bible? Quran? Atlas Shrugged? Huck Finn? Where the Wild Things Are? The Satanic Verses?

Or could it be the condensed version of every Foxfire book ever published? link

I could see THAT worth fighting for in a post-apoc world…

POSSIBLE SPOILERS:

The mystery of what the book of Eli could be is…

Not neccessarily a mystery at all.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli

link

Eli is an aramaic name for God (specifically the name means "My God"). It is unsurprisingly also the name of a priest in the Bible – the priest trained Samuel. Eli's sons and descendents were doomed to die violent deaths because they had turned away from God.

So the book of Eli = the book of God = so, erm, The Bible? The Koran? The Tanakh?

Will it really be so obvious? Or something utterly different? Obviously this will be difficult to discuss further here.

As for some people never being pleased…

I AM rather fussy and difficult to please when it comes to movies. I get rather jaded with movie trends, and impatient with studios showing a lack of imagination and instead just jumping on the latest bandwagons, such as, presently, the recent flood of vampire themed projects or indeed, the apocalyptic/post apocalypse stories that seem in vogue all of a sudden. I'm sure there are good films amongst them, but so many films within trends tend to be much of a sameness, merely imitations of the original one or two movies that started the trend.

I will go and see it.

I get rather jaded with movie trends, and impatient with studios showing a lack of imagination and instead just jumping on the latest bandwagons, such as, presently, the recent flood of vampire themed projects or indeed, the apocalyptic/post apocalypse stories that seem in vogue all of a sudden.

Too bad the pirate themed stories didn't really catch on. One would have thought that Pirates of the Caribbean would have ushered in a new era of swashbuckling movies. But apart from Stardust and a few porn flicks, nada…

Well, Book of Eli might be interesting. What if the Book is "To Serve Man"? :P

Obviously this will be difficult to discuss further here.

Yeah, thanks to the sniveling and whining to Bill the moment "EL" (in whatever form) gets mentioned more than once, i.e. in conversation….

Eli was also the High Priest of Israel who got in trouble because his two overpriviledged sons were taking flagrant liberties in the temple, extorting bribes and carrying on drunken orgies with the servant girls. Eli was warned that he must put a stop to it or something worse would come, but he only gave them a very mild rebuke and let them continue. They were subsequently killed in battle and the Ark of the Covenant was captured. When Eli was told the news, he fell off his bench backward and and broke his neck.

Not sure how that might possibly fit into a post-A story, though, but there it is.

Saw it on the weekend. Nice visuals, but that was it for me.

This film poses the same question that the Rod Taylor film "The Time Machine" posed. If you had to chose only one book to take with you to save the future of mankind, which book would you choose?

Here are my nominations:

1) The Playboy Bar Guide

2) Thrilling Cities by Ian Fleming

He didn't really choose which book. It was chosen for him.