THE BOOK OF ELI
CAROLINE: Denzel Washington stars in the apocalypse movie du jour, The Book of Eli, which is a combination of several disaster movies we’ve seen before.
RYAN: It is, but I feel like it’s told in an original way. And it’s shot mostly in black and white.
CAROLINE: It’s not really black and white though.
RYAN: Well, yeah. It’s just really desaturated color; until the end, at least. This movie is really violent too.
CAROLINE: It might give me nightmares because of all the death and destruction that comes with a movie like this. Having said that, Denzel is pretty badass.
RYAN: I really appreciated the artistry of the fight scenes because they were choreographed so well, but I was also disgusted by how gross they were.
CAROLINE: There’s a lot of limb severing and decapitating. Oh, and Mila Kunis is in it.
RYAN: She looks like a younger, tighter Fergie.
CAROLINE: [laughs’ She also looks like Jennifer Beals, who plays her mother. Their resemblance was kind of uncanny, even though J. Beals looks like she could be her sister.
RYAN: She’s definitely been to the Fountain of Heidi Montag. But she plays blind very well.
CAROLINE: I was pretty into this movie for the first hour or so. It’s a January release, but it didn’t suck, which surprised me.
RYAN: It moved really well in the beginning, but the last half hour or so dragged. I was tapping my feet thinking, “Come on, let’s go.” I was ready for it to end.
CAROLINE: Me too. I started to wonder what the point was after about an hour and fifteen minutes. I think they could have gotten there a little quicker; but luckily the movie does have a point in the end. I’m not sure I loved it though.
RYAN: The title of the movie is a clue, though I didn’t give much thought to it that this might be a movie with a religious message. But honestly, if I wanted to go sit in church for two hours, I’d do that. I felt like I was getting preached to.
CAROLINE: There are some heavy religious overtones here, which culminate at the end. That’s the part I didn’t really like. I also couldn’t tell if I was supposed to buy Mila Kunis as a badass, because every time she was on screen I just thought, “Oh there’s the chick from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”
RYAN: I thought she was pretty good. But my favorite scene in the film featured Professor Dumbledore.
CAROLINE: Naturally. I liked that scene too though. This movie has all the elements of an apocalypse film: devastation, destruction, survival, cannibalism, murder, mayhem, anarchy, lack of water, etc. The plot reminded me a lot of Waterworld, actually. Minus the water.
— BOTTOM LINE —
RYAN: For a January release, it’s decent. It’s kind of a boy movie; I think my dad would love it, as will Denzel’s die-hard fans. I can’t really say it’s a must see in the theater, though you’d probably get more out of it that way.
CAROLINE: Yeah, I wouldn’t tell anyone to rush out and see it, but if you’re inclined to, it’s good to see on the big screen because of its grand scale and subject matter. There are some cool shots and effects. I didn’t love the ending; it reminded me of I Am Legend, and I also felt a little hit over the head by the message. Denzel is very good though, and quite convincing. I’m not going to rave about, but I’ve definitely seen worse in January.
— RATING —
