Book of Eli Review
Wednesday, January 20. 2010
I had a teacher back in school who was an entertainment snob. He abhorred pop culture, felt that artists had to suffer for their craft, and refused to watch "movies" - he watched "films." To him, the distinction was that a "film" was a serious piece, whereas a mere "movie" was without intellect and as such unworthy of his time.
Although I never bought into this (which should be obvioustoanyonewholooksaroundthissite), I bring it up because, despite being a post-apocalyptic sci-fi piece, The Book of Eli falls firmly under the "film" heading. (Spoilers after the jump)
The plot of Eli is relatively simple on its face: humanity has been destroyed save for a few small pockets, and the leader of one of those pockets (Carnegie, played by Gary Oldman) wants to expand his influence to take over the remains of of the population. The McGuffin that will allow him to do this is the last remaining Bible, all others having been destroyed in the riots that followed the extinction event. Carnegie is a student of history, and as such knows that the Bible's influence can bring followers to him regardless of his true intentions. Fortunately, this Bible is in the possession of Eli (Denzel Washington), a traveller on a quest to deliver it to the last truly worthy place on Earth.
Religion is a difficult subject to handle, but Eli does a beautiful job balancing the pious the corrupt. It shows not only how the good can be tarnished, but how the bad can be redeemed - in objects, people, and spirit. One particularly good scene showing this is when Eli gives up the Bible to save Solara (Mila Kunis). He has been guarding and reading it for decades, even going so far as to let others suffer as he pursues his quest. But when the danger is made "real" to him, he realizes that finishing his journey would be useless if he learned nothing along the way. It's a message that holds true in all religions, and as such it allows The Book of Eli to expand its message beyond Christianity.
The reason Eli works so well is because it is character-driven. Denzel Washington is known as one of the finest actors of our time, and with good reason. He brings a gravity to his performances that few can match. One who can, however, is Gary Oldman. Oldman doesn't always seem to pick the best movies, but every one he is in benefits from his performance (Liam Neeson has a similar resumé). Both actors truly breathe life into their characters, and when Carnegie's acquisition of the book turns out to have been useless, you almost pity him. Kunis does an admirable job of playing Solara, and the bond between her and Eli is so strong that you readily accept her following Eli's path after his death. Even minor characters seem more real than lead characters in some other movies. Lora Cunningham (playing a con artist/hijacker) is probably the best example of this, as with only a few minutes of screen time you get a sense of the life she's been forced to lead out there in the wasteland, and the few shreds of decency she still clings to.
The ending of the movie was particularly well done in a few respects. First, the way that Carnegie was denied his prize was great: a braille Bible let him get within a hair's breadth of his goal, only to be thwarted by his own cruel actions up to that point. I also like the way his death was left open to interpretation. Those who wish him a quick and inescapable death are free to interpret his henchman's actions as pre-homicidal, while those that feel he deserves a less merciful death can assume that the henchman was simply loading up to get out of town, and Carnegie would spend his last days succumbing to infection. Last but not least, Alcatraz made a perfect last stand/restart for humanity, both for practical (an island fortress is a lot easier to defend than a town in the desert) and symbolic reasons.
Eli is not perfect: there are a few times when the pacing slows too much and the movie drags. It could probably stand to lose about 10-15 minutes, preferably by shortening several scenes rather than cutting anything out entirely. Even so, it was a fine movie and worth seeing, even if you want to wait for the DVD release.
Collector/Modeler Interest:
It would be possible to make one or two of the cars from Carnegie's convoy. R&R Resin makes a Suburban of the correct vintage, and although R&R doesn't always have the best reputation for quality, the required armor plating upgrades may actually turn this fault into a bonus. Also, the delivery van could be made by either modifying the old Monster Garage delivery truck or doing an outright scratchbuild (the overall boxy design and crude upgrades make this a lot easier than most scratchbuilds).
Although I never bought into this (which should be obvioustoanyonewholooksaroundthissite), I bring it up because, despite being a post-apocalyptic sci-fi piece, The Book of Eli falls firmly under the "film" heading. (Spoilers after the jump)
The plot of Eli is relatively simple on its face: humanity has been destroyed save for a few small pockets, and the leader of one of those pockets (Carnegie, played by Gary Oldman) wants to expand his influence to take over the remains of of the population. The McGuffin that will allow him to do this is the last remaining Bible, all others having been destroyed in the riots that followed the extinction event. Carnegie is a student of history, and as such knows that the Bible's influence can bring followers to him regardless of his true intentions. Fortunately, this Bible is in the possession of Eli (Denzel Washington), a traveller on a quest to deliver it to the last truly worthy place on Earth.
Religion is a difficult subject to handle, but Eli does a beautiful job balancing the pious the corrupt. It shows not only how the good can be tarnished, but how the bad can be redeemed - in objects, people, and spirit. One particularly good scene showing this is when Eli gives up the Bible to save Solara (Mila Kunis). He has been guarding and reading it for decades, even going so far as to let others suffer as he pursues his quest. But when the danger is made "real" to him, he realizes that finishing his journey would be useless if he learned nothing along the way. It's a message that holds true in all religions, and as such it allows The Book of Eli to expand its message beyond Christianity.
The reason Eli works so well is because it is character-driven. Denzel Washington is known as one of the finest actors of our time, and with good reason. He brings a gravity to his performances that few can match. One who can, however, is Gary Oldman. Oldman doesn't always seem to pick the best movies, but every one he is in benefits from his performance (Liam Neeson has a similar resumé). Both actors truly breathe life into their characters, and when Carnegie's acquisition of the book turns out to have been useless, you almost pity him. Kunis does an admirable job of playing Solara, and the bond between her and Eli is so strong that you readily accept her following Eli's path after his death. Even minor characters seem more real than lead characters in some other movies. Lora Cunningham (playing a con artist/hijacker) is probably the best example of this, as with only a few minutes of screen time you get a sense of the life she's been forced to lead out there in the wasteland, and the few shreds of decency she still clings to.
The ending of the movie was particularly well done in a few respects. First, the way that Carnegie was denied his prize was great: a braille Bible let him get within a hair's breadth of his goal, only to be thwarted by his own cruel actions up to that point. I also like the way his death was left open to interpretation. Those who wish him a quick and inescapable death are free to interpret his henchman's actions as pre-homicidal, while those that feel he deserves a less merciful death can assume that the henchman was simply loading up to get out of town, and Carnegie would spend his last days succumbing to infection. Last but not least, Alcatraz made a perfect last stand/restart for humanity, both for practical (an island fortress is a lot easier to defend than a town in the desert) and symbolic reasons.
Eli is not perfect: there are a few times when the pacing slows too much and the movie drags. It could probably stand to lose about 10-15 minutes, preferably by shortening several scenes rather than cutting anything out entirely. Even so, it was a fine movie and worth seeing, even if you want to wait for the DVD release.
Collector/Modeler Interest:
It would be possible to make one or two of the cars from Carnegie's convoy. R&R Resin makes a Suburban of the correct vintage, and although R&R doesn't always have the best reputation for quality, the required armor plating upgrades may actually turn this fault into a bonus. Also, the delivery van could be made by either modifying the old Monster Garage delivery truck or doing an outright scratchbuild (the overall boxy design and crude upgrades make this a lot easier than most scratchbuilds).
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