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I don't know what happened. The cat died and then Denzel Washington turned into the Lone Wanderer. I think Mila Kunis was supposed to be Dogmeat.
Okay. I'm kidding. The Fallout games are rife with references to post-apocalypse-themed stories, movies and fiction so calling "The Book of Eli" Fallout the Movie is like calling Fallout, Mad Max the Video Game. Still, the movie looks and feels alot like it could be dropped directly into the Fallout world. They've even got a sort of Brotherhood of Steel.
Overall, I liked this movie. There were a few things here and there that seemed a little odd or hard to believe,
I imagine some people will walk out of the movie decrying it for the Christianity-based story and Eli's seemingly divine luck and abilities (he's like a post-apocalyptic paladin!) being beyond belief while others might hail it as some kind of spiritually uplifting message about the perseverance of faith. I'm not either one of those types of people. I just walked out of it thinking it was a pretty good movie about one man's conviction in a world gone to rubbish.
I won't give it away, but Eli is hiding something besides that mysterious book so fans of surprise revelations should be pleased.
Finally, I have to give huge ups to the set decorator who hung the "A Boy and His Dog" poster on the wall of one of the rooms Eli sleeps in during the film.
Oh, and Mila Kunis is cuter than Dogmeat.
My (non-Xn) stepson and his friend went to see it last night and came back very enthusiastic about it. And Mila would be cute even dipped in dogmeat.
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That's all very possible, kyrt-rider, but nothing is ever really said about what exactly happened to the world so there's no indication of any massive geological shifts. A few craters are shown, a war is mentioned and there's a reference to an event called "The Flash." It was described as a hole torn in the sky causing the sun to burn everything and everyone (ozone depletion?)
Still, 30 years?
That's all very possible, kyrt-rider, but nothing is ever really said about what exactly happened to the world so there's no indication of any massive geological shifts. A few craters are shown, a war is mentioned and there's a reference to an event called "The Flash." It was described as a hole torn in the sky causing the sun to burn everything and everyone (ozone depletion?)
Still, 30 years?
Well factor in alot of time defending himself, learning things and just generally dealing with post-apocalyptia and time flies. :P
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That's all very possible, kyrt-rider, but nothing is ever really said about what exactly happened to the world so there's no indication of any massive geological shifts. A few craters are shown, a war is mentioned and there's a reference to an event called "The Flash." It was described as a hole torn in the sky causing the sun to burn everything and everyone (ozone depletion?)
Still, 30 years?
He could have stopped for periods of time in different settlements along his route. If he stayed a year here or a few years there, it would explain the time descrepencey. In the interest of full disclosure I haven't seen the movie, this i just my first gut reaction.
Well considering the difficulty, without spoiling the movie, Eli would have crossing at least most of the country. It's kind of understandable why it took him so long.
It may have been, he had reached his final destination at an earlier time, but things weren't "ready" for him to deliver his burden yet, so he wandered some more, perhaps back the way he had come to see if he had missed a turn at albequerque.
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For those of you who haven't seen it yet, I got the impression Eli rarely stops anywhere for longer than a day. He's a man with a mission and he's absolutely devoted to seeing it through. Plus, I don't think I'm giving anything away by saying he's being "guided" west.
I'm not saying it's completely unbelievable for a guy in post-apocalyptia to take 30 years to walk 3000 miles but, to put it in perspective, Lewis and Clark did it in under two years. Granted they had horses, a native guide and some soldiers, but Eli, one gathers, has an angel on his shoulder. Also, this awesome fat dude walked from San Diego to New York in approximately one year.
My conclusion is that Gary Whitta (the screenwriter) or The Hughes Brothers omitted something about how Eli actually just wandered around for 26-28 years before receiving his mission. You can sort of guess that may have been the case from some of the dialogue, but at one point he actually tells Solara (Mila Kunis) he isn't lost and knows where he's going even though he's been walking for 30 years.
Actually, pres man,
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I'll be honest, I hated the movie. I found it completely unrealistic.
And that's why I hate this movie. If the basic premise is nonsensical, how am I supposed to believe anything else? And yes, the movie does capture the post apocalyptic world perfectly (although my eyes started leaking sepia after the first half hour). But I cannot ignore crap like the above.
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I guess that's a legitimate enough reason. It does seem unlikely but, since the entire plot revolves around that idea, I let it go so I could focus on watching people get decapitated and maimed. I imagined there were more out there, but they were either very difficult to locate or being hidden by other people. With illiteracy as rampant as it seemed, there may have been all sorts of books people wouldn't even recognize. Still, you make a valid point, Jared.
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I guess that's a legitimate enough reason. It does seem unlikely but, since the entire plot revolves around that idea, I let it go so I could focus on watching people get decapitated and maimed. I imagined there were more out there, but they were either very difficult to locate or being hidden by other people. With illiteracy as rampant as it seemed, there may have been all sorts of books people wouldn't even recognize. Still, you make a valid point, Jared.
The ideas were there, though, about religion either being a tool of control or salvation (or more probably both), I have to give the movie that, but looking back once you've shot down the Macguffin the ENTIRE PLOT revolves around, the rest kind of falls apart too.
This is actually not that uncommon of an idea in Sci-Fi. Often right after a great war such as that, knowledge that was felt to have lead to the incident was often destroyed.
Anyway, the movie had a very Canticle for Leibowitz feel to me.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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I just got back from watching it, and I thought it was good for the most part, but the ending didn't really work for me. Spoilers obscured.
It needed a big finish, a nice cathartic fight scene, but instead it felt like they went for the standard 'twist' ending, which I thought was just OK.
Also, so Eli was blind? At least thats the impression I got, and seems to fit with the rest of the film (think of all the times he mentioned smelling or hearing something, as opposed to seeing it.) It also explains him taking 30 years to cross the country, I think. No compass, no sun to guide you, just walking "by faith, not by sight".
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Disappointing. Some cool scenes and gorgeous cinematography, but...
Why do bullets bounce off him in town when Gary Oldman can shoot him without problems out in the countryside? Eli says he's "protected" while carrying out his mission. Again, that's cool, but why does he hide the damn book in the TV? Why doesn't he just keep it in his packpack (thus staying invulnerable) and cut up the baddies?
And, seriously, Gary Oldman thinks "the words in the book" will let him "control he minds of people"? He's living in an illiterate society! He can make up anything he wants! Idiotic.
I kinda agree with Jared - the book is a lame prop and a really weak McGuffin. However, I just pretended the book was a G.E.C.K. manual or something similarly valuable. :D It still doesn't solve the invulnerability conundrum, of course.
Beyond that, it's not bad. Denzel is believable as a man on a mission, Mila Kunis does a satisfactory job as eye candy and it's nice to see Jennifer Beals again (was she in Fame or Flashdance? I forget). 2 out of 6.
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And yes, Carnegie could have just invented a new religion (it's happened before,) but I chalked it up to his own lack of vision and feelings toward the bible. He said himself he didn't have the words to make the people follow him, but he believed they were in the book. Having a physical bible from before the war would give him a prop he could bring before the people to claim as a gift from whatever god he wanted them to worship, sort of like his own tablets of Moses.
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Just got back from seeing this--AWESOME!!
Exactly my thoughts, too--I felt like this was a side quest from Fallout 3. It also had a Matheson quality to it, and I was a little surprised to learn it was a totally original story (as in not lifted from a short story or novel).
This is a definite must-see.
30 years: this is a great biblical allusion.
Bullets didn't bounce off him--they missed. Carnegie (another great, though postmodern allusion) fired at him pointblank; and the scene was necessary for the final setup.
A blind man wandering the desert for 30 years who exhibits extraordinary powers of perception? Beautiful and even believable.
This is a literary film. You have to watch it that way, or you'll probably hate it. The theatre was about 10% filled tonight for that very reason, I believe. Then again Avatar was multiscreening at the same time, so...
Particular f/x I liked: the busted overpasses; ginormous blast craters; super exceptionally
detailed ruined cityscapes.
My only quibble: the ending suffered from Jacksonitis: there were four separate and distinct endings.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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** spoiler omitted **
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Yeah, they completely drop the whole finger issue. I assumed it was related to whatever affliction caused all the highwaymen to be covered in boils and sores, but they never went back to it. Maybe the explanation got cut from the film.
I'm pretty sure Eli was blind the whole time. Oh, and here's a little bit of trivia. Gary Whitta has written numerous articles for PC Gamer (maybe Fallout did inspire him a little?) He's also writing a live-action version of Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira.
And some Book of Eli-related trivia with a spoiler:
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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They weren't checking fingers, they were checking hands. Cannibalism apparently gives you the shakes, which they referenced a couple times in the film (this was how they knew the old couple was eating the people they killed).
So when you meet someone new, you have them show you their hands. If they can't hold 'em steady, they probably want to eat you.
Oh yeah. I forgot he mentioned that to Solara in the old couples' house and Carnegie said the people in his town weren't cannibals after checking Eli's hands. Well, that answers that. And here I thought cannibalism just turned you into a wendigo.
Cannibalism give humans a mad-cow kind of disease it’s similar to Parkinson’s but with the added bonus of insanity caused by your brain being eaten away slowly.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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Oh yeah. I forgot he mentioned that to Solara in the old couples' house and Carnegie said the people in his town weren't cannibals after checking Eli's hands. Well, that answers that. And here I thought cannibalism just turned you into a wendigo.Cannibalism give humans a mad-cow kind of disease it’s similar to Parkinson’s but with the added bonus of insanity caused by your brain being eaten away slowly.
Cannibalism doesn't give you mad-cow, cannibalism lets you catch mad-cow from people who already have it. So long as you take care to only eat healthy people, you should be in the clear.
Cannibalism doesn't give you mad-cow, cannibalism lets you catch mad-cow from people who already have it. So long as you take care to only eat healthy people, you should be in the clear.Oh yeah. I forgot he mentioned that to Solara in the old couples' house and Carnegie said the people in his town weren't cannibals after checking Eli's hands. Well, that answers that. And here I thought cannibalism just turned you into a wendigo.Cannibalism give humans a mad-cow kind of disease it’s similar to Parkinson’s but with the added bonus of insanity caused by your brain being eaten away slowly.
Mother to child: Timmy don't eat him, you don't what he has.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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Mother to child: Timmy don't eat him, you don't what he has.Cannibalism doesn't give you mad-cow, cannibalism lets you catch mad-cow from people who already have it. So long as you take care to only eat healthy people, you should be in the clear.Oh yeah. I forgot he mentioned that to Solara in the old couples' house and Carnegie said the people in his town weren't cannibals after checking Eli's hands. Well, that answers that. And here I thought cannibalism just turned you into a wendigo.Cannibalism give humans a mad-cow kind of disease it’s similar to Parkinson’s but with the added bonus of insanity caused by your brain being eaten away slowly.
Don't put that in your mouth, you don't know where it's been!
Since prions are near and dear to my heart, I will play the pedant and point out that in humans we wouldn't call it mad-cow disease and would probably refer to it as either Kuru (sp?) as it was referred to in New Guinea, or as a variant of CJD (Creutzfeld Jaccob's Disease....really not sure of the spelling on that one!).
Cheers,
Colin