Book of Eli

[ysengrin]

Well, first, it's in very sharp contrast to the last few movies that have suffered mediocrity from committee. The vision and the feel are quite focused, and the action sequences are artfully brutal.

The setting is post nuclear apocalypse America, in particular northern California and (possibly) Nevada, about thirty years after the bombs dropped. Things have gone downhill over the years. Into this walks Eli, heading west, carrying a book.

I really want to like this one, but I'm not sure that I do ... and that ambiguity is because the core of this film is oddly unsatisfying. No spoilers, but I have trouble buying that the book of the title is the only copy to surface in thirty years, requiring the leap of faith that *is* Eli.

San Francisco, in a brief cameo neat the end, looks pretty good despite the nuclear war (and the unexplained "flash" that followed) that pretty much wiped out modern civilization. It certainly dodged all the nukes.

I love the cinematography and the storytelling, but the story itself is a bit weak. I'd still watch it again.

Comments

[faolruadh.livejournal.com]

What do you think of the 2007 script, posed at
http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Book-of-Eli,-The.html
Do you think the movie focused on the weak parts of the story?

[ysengrin.livejournal.com]

The script-Eli makes me cringe; he comes across as more filled with hubris rather than competent humility. The film-Eli is a more believably human character, warts and all, and IMHO is a far more appropriate messenger.

I didn't click to the post-Rapture setting from the film, it's more obvious in the script. While that does make some of the film's problems explainable, it also drags in a particularly ugly subtext: pretty much everyone we see is unshriven. Not that they have any choice - salvation is on hold, waiting on Eli walking across the country. (That's the same problem I have with The Chronicles of Narnia; all the pain and suffering while waiting centuries for the children to show up is gratuitous.)

Post-Rapture also undercuts Carnegie's character. He's not failing because he's flawed and can't overcome those flaws, he's failing because the deck is stacked against him. It doesn't matter if he's an asshole or not.

In short, the film works much better than that script does. Explicitly setting the story into Rapture mythology weakens the story, as Eli is neither martyr nor prophet.

[faolruadh.livejournal.com]

If you think Narnia is bad, consider the "Space Trilogy." C.S. Lewis describes Earth as the "Silent Planet" because humans are a uniquely evil race. All other planets, including Mars and Venus, are inhabited by "saved" creatures. In contrast, there's a cosmic quarantine imposed on Earth for fear of its evil spreading to contaminate other worlds.