Denzel Washington to Star in Book of Eli

[mrvlknight21]

EXACTLY, not to mention you never see him driving a car, he is always reading in poorly lit places, he cant see the 'blind girls' water at the start even though it is right in front of him and he has to smell it to realise it is bad even though it is black. Not to mention his hearing and smell being heightened, there are tons of hints throughout

.

In the very beginning of the film Denzel finds a skeleton in a car. Instead of looking to see if it is wearing shoes, which wuld been rather easy from his angle...he felt the dead bodt's legs until it's feet and then was disapointed that there were n shoes.

If you could see...and you needed shoes...wouldnt you prefer to simply LOOK at the feet of a dead body as opposed to running your hands all over it???

These are just a few more of the examples. In fact, I thought one time when he was "reading" he had his eyes closed (which obviously could be done when reading braille).

 

[Kane52630]

Spoiler

are you guys saying he wasnt blind?

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I guess what I'm saying, is that even with the hints that he is blind, I'm not fully sold on the delivery. Ie. after discovering the truth at the end, rewatching it should be absolutely clear that he is totally blind. But it's not. It's like they dropped the 'hint scenes' that he is blind... and then told Denzel to act like he wasn't blind for the rest of the movie. On rewatch it should be fully clear that he is completely blind from beginning to end. But I just don't see it, other than the hints that were dropped (in between those hints, he doesn't appear to be blind at all).

does that make sense?

I believe you that he is blind, but I just don't buy the way it was delivered. It's like most of the movie he can see, with a bunch of moments seeded throughout the film to illustrate that he is blind. On rewatch, I would have loved to see that at every moment of the film, he actually was blind. But it doesn't feel that way, because it doesn't look the way, even when your brain is tuned in that he is blind (when liberated from the scotoma of the first time viewing)

Ah right, so you are complaining about the execution of it during the film? Hhhmm, yeah I can sort of agree, but at the same time, I think that was intentional. I dont think they wanted you to think he was blind in the movie because the ending was meant to be a sucker punch/shock ending. But there are subtle hints throughout the movie ONCE the ending is revealed. I dont think they spelled it out on purpose to not ruin the ending and make you realise that God was helping him along all the way.

In fact I believe that is why the movie got some bad reviews, as it promotes God as the one God, which obviously people from other cultures wouldnt be happy about.

But I can see more were you are coming from now for sure.

These are just a few more of the examples. In fact, I thought one time when he was "reading" he had his eyes closed (which obviously could be done when reading braille).

Yeah, I think the hints are intentionally subtle so as not to give away the ending, but thats just my opinion. We would need to hear this from the directors to confirm it.

are you guys saying he wasnt blind?

No, we previously thought Superfreak was, but he was just unhappy at the execution of this during the movie on re-watch.

 

[Spider-Who?]

Spoiler

dammit, has no body heard of spoiler tags?!

 

[Kane52630]

there. happy who?

 

[RockSP]

Yeah, I think the hints are intentionally subtle so as not to give away the ending, but thats just my opinion. We would need to hear this from the directors to confirm it.

Nah it's pretty obvious that it's supposed to be a surprise. (most of) The audience finds out when Carnegie does.

 

[Spider-Who?]

there. happy who?

well, i wasn't speaking to you in particular, but more so to everyone talking about it in general; though for what its worth, I appreciate your edit.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Goddammit. I looked at this thread two days ago and I was spoiled.

 

[Holiday]

You two should know better than to pop in here a couple weeks after the movie has been out and not expect to see spoilers.

 

[Doctor Jones]

The Book of Eli - 7/10

A film with some great actors, a gorgeous look to it, and simplistic yet compelling themes. I see this as basically a post-apocolyptic western. The themes came across so well. It's not just by the end do you realize the it, but it's present throughout the whole film. Through Eli's journey. Just with Washington's presence you can understand what mission he is on. He walks the richeous path, yet does what needs to be done to get to it or continue onward. He's like Mad Max or The Man With No Name. Gary Oldman is of course awesome; returning as an antagonist once again who's shoes he can still fit into quite well. Mila Kunis was better than I expected, not to mention hot. Along some great appearances from other actors; one whom took me off guard. It was a cool cameo. Some things in the script felt creaky, like some dialogue and one or two weaker scenes, but it all holds together well. But most of all, the film prevails in its themes of belief and faith even when it can be lost or abandoned. It's not about which faith or belief you have or where you put it, it's about believing in something, anything. You can move always forward, despite the circumstances. Although Christianity was used for the faith, it doesn't mean you need religion to have faith. But believing in something is all that matters. Faith comes in many forms. The post apocolyptic setting utilized this in a great way. But I think the themes can easily register enough with people. That's why I liked the film.

 

[Legion]

After the big catastrophe Eli wakes up from his hiding spot and hears the voice of God. God tells Eli to carry this book that only he can read West. He grabs his ipod, turns on his favorite mix, and heads off.

Eli kills lots of raiders on his way west. He runs into some folks who are being attacked by raiders and decides not to help them because it might jeapordize his mission.

Later we learn that Eli could have saved those people with no problem because he's under God's protection. During the climax Eli actually relinquishes his possession of the book to save his buddy.

He continues west however and it's revealed that losing the book was really no problem because no one else can read it but him and he's already memorized the entire book.

The book is rewritten and printed to the best of Eli's recollection so that it can sit in the world's library. There are plans to mass produce it and make it available to the public for a price as low as two shoe strings and a vile of cat oil once Amazon and Fedex are up again.

 

[Mr. Para-Normal]

Well you guys don't know about spoiler tags to you. Some people have yet to see the movie and you guys are posting the big twist like everyone knows lol. Well l am glad I saw the movie opening weekend otherwise I would be mad to get the movie ruined for me.

 

[mrvlknight21]

The Book of Eli - 7/10

A film with some great actors, a gorgeous look to it, and simplistic yet compelling themes. I see this as basically a post-apocolyptic western. The themes came across so well. It's not just by the end do you realize the it, but it's present throughout the whole film. Through Eli's journey. Just with Washington's presence you can understand what mission he is on. He walks the richeous path, yet does what needs to be done to get to it or continue onward. He's like Mad Max or The Man With No Name. Gary Oldman is of course awesome; returning as an antagonist once again who's shoes he can still fit into quite well. Mila Kunis was better than I expected, not to mention hot. Along some great appearances from other actors; one whom took me off guard. It was a cool cameo. Some things in the script felt creaky, like some dialogue and one or two weaker scenes, but it all holds together well. But most of all, the film prevails in its themes of belief and faith even when it can be lost or abandoned. It's not about which faith or belief you have or where you put it, it's about believing in something, anything. You can move always forward, despite the circumstances. Although Christianity was used for the faith, it doesn't mean you need religion to have faith. But believing in something is all that matters. Faith comes in many forms. The post apocolyptic setting utilized this in a great way. But I think the themes can easily register enough with people. That's why I liked the film.

Based on what you wrote, I would have expected a higher score than 7.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Nah it's pretty obvious that it's supposed to be a surprise. (most of) The audience finds out when Carnegie does.

Well, I thought the same, and its whats clever about the ending IMO, it makes you think back to all the moments in the movie were you wondered what he was doing.

Sorry to anyone who has been spoiled BTW, I do apologise.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Based on what you wrote, I would have expected a higher score than 7.

I think I would have given it an 8, but some things just weren't there completely for me. Not everything gelled. There were some weaker scenes and some weak casting.

 

[Lord Blackbolt]

It's a shame Wesley Snips career went into a nose dive..... this would have been a good role for him.

I like Denzel as much as the next guy.....but besides Him and Will Smith...and Sam Jackson... We've run out of black A-list action stars.

Snipes is a great actor too. He's done a lot of dramatic roles. I'm hoping Brooklyn's Finest brings him back into the spotlight.

 

[Heretic]

It's an even bigger shame that Snipes went to jail when he didn't even break any laws.

 

[superpower]

I was sucked into this movie the moment I heard Oldman say “It’s not a book. It’s a weapon”? This is a truth that I recently came to understand so I was very excited to see a film that touched on the uncorrupted Truth.

Well aside from the normal “people will just do what I say” that is associated with today’s interpretations of the book there was nothing new.

Aside from the fact that it was the same old do for others routine I really enjoyed this.
The twist was no surprise (from reading spoilers) but that didn’t take away from it for me.

I could really see a prequel showing how the Quran, Torah and others got there. Perhaps even an explanation of how Gods word was corrupted in the old world. Mankind last chance type setting for the third installment.

Of course in order to add villains we would have to explore the Hows of what makes the book a weapon.

 

[Doctor Jones]

No, the point of the faith was not which faith it showed, but of faith in general. Christianity just happened to be the faith, because it's not saying Christianity is the faith believe in that setting. It's a generalization of believing in something.

There's no point in showing how the other religions came to be anyway. It would take away the thematic ways of this film. Not to mention be a rehash.

 

[Kane52630]

yea i wasnt bothered with the christian message with the film, i was glad that they showed the Quran and also the Torah (i think it was there) because it was about Faith vs no Faith

 

[superpower]

No, the point of the faith was not which faith it showed, but of faith in general. Christianity just happened to be the faith, because it's not saying Christianity is the faith believe in that setting. It's a generalization of believing in something.

There's no point in showing how the other religions came to be anyway. It would take away the thematic ways of this film. Not to mention be a rehash.

Faith is believing in something that you can not prove. You have faith other drivers wont smash into your car, you have faith your wife wont cheat on you, and you may even have faith that after death there is more....But

A bible isn't "faith" a bible is information about our past and our nature as human beings. The information it holds can lead to "free will" if it is used in the interest of mankind. On the other hand it can be used to contol people so that they will do your bidding.

Other than the line "I walk by faith" this movie seemed to center much more on the books contents.

 

[superpower]

Double post.

 

[Superfreak]

Ah right, so you are complaining about the execution of it during the film? Hhhmm, yeah I can sort of agree, but at the same time, I think that was intentional. I dont think they wanted you to think he was blind in the movie because the ending was meant to be a sucker punch/shock ending. But there are subtle hints throughout the movie ONCE the ending is revealed. I dont think they spelled it out on purpose to not ruin the ending and make you realise that God was helping him along all the way.

In fact I believe that is why the movie got some bad reviews, as it promotes God as the one God, which obviously people from other cultures wouldnt be happy about.

But I can see more were you are coming from now for sure.



Yeah, I think the hints are intentionally subtle so as not to give away the ending, but thats just my opinion. We would need to hear this from the directors to confirm it.



No, we previously thought Superfreak was, but he was just unhappy at the execution of this during the movie on re-watch.

exactly. See for me, the suprise is sold when I go and re-watch, and it turns out he is litterally blind for the WHOLE movie (not just instances where it is intentionally illustrated that he is blind). Every moment of the film should be an exposition of his blindness. But this exposition of blindness should have been invisible to the first time viewer, but absolutely clear to the repeat viewer.

But alas, it feels like they took a movie that is primarily about a guy who could see, then sprinkled in the proof in little easter eggs to illustrate the lack of sight... instead of trying to achieve this secretly throughout every single scene with Denzel.


The religion issue is a problem, and shouldn't have been hammered home so hard: why protestant christianity?



lastly: upon a couple of rewatches: the first 40 minutes of this movie were annoyingly stolen from my all time favority post-apocolipse movie, The Road Warrior. Identical film, up to the town. They almost use the exact same camera angles.

 

[B]

Thought this was a great film, really enjoyed it. Nice twist at the end as well, I was half expecting him to be miraculously healed after he was shot.. or the bullet not to have effected him at all. So it makes a change when you cannot predict what might happen

Now, I'm inclined to believe he was only partially blind as there where points in the film where he is clearly looking at things & there are points where it just steps.. to far out of the realm of possiblity that this could be a blind man. But there where suttle references that he was blind, such as his accute hearing & sense of smell. There was also the way he fought, in the thorns & thistles scene I recall him only looking forwards when they first charged at him.. I just thought it was just one of Denzel's weaker fight scenes he has ever done, but in honestly it was probably planned, I mean hes fought flawlessly in things like Training Day.. meh I think it was planned anyway.

Regardless I thought this was a quality film, Its a shame it hasn't really made that much money at the box office (quite possibly due to Avatar's continued run of success), It was also rated quite poorly & I laugh as I say this, by the "Top critics" Rotten Tomatoes hand pick.. good to see however that the Rotton Tomatoes community, which is a better idea of what people actually think of the film, gave it a respectable 79% thus far.

Definalty a good film in my eyes 9/10

 

[COAL TIGER]

exactly. See for me, the suprise is sold when I go and re-watch, and it turns out he is litterally blind for the WHOLE movie (not just instances where it is intentionally illustrated that he is blind). Every moment of the film should be an exposition of his blindness. But this exposition of blindness should have been invisible to the first time viewer, but absolutely clear to the repeat viewer.

But alas, it feels like they took a movie that is primarily about a guy who could see, then sprinkled in the proof in little easter eggs to illustrate the lack of sight... instead of trying to achieve this secretly throughout every single scene with Denzel.

You watched this movie more than ones and still didn't see the hints that Eli was blind through out the whole movie?