(2012-04-30 12:58:55)

This is a great movie...if your open minded.

This review is from: The Book of Eli [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) People who give this 1 star, dont seem to understand that a movie such as The Book of Eli is a form of entertainment, which an ensamble of great actors come together and deliver. People become so serious to point out its flaws that their judgement is bias, and one sided. First off. Remember this is a FICTIONAL movie and it carries a twist of religion (that the one star reviews seem to gripe about), the good and the bad, exposistion, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement. Its story covers the basics. Although many people feel queezy about religion like its some sort of big evil repulsive creature, remember to watch this movie with an open mind, and not like one of a 8 year old. This movie is entended to entertain, and it does that. If you have a big freaking problem with religion in general, then skip this movie and quit whining. Otherwise, if you give it a chance, you might actually like this movie. Although it has this "religious" element, The Book of Eli tries to not keep your mind focused on just that fact. It brings together the gritty action, western kind of feel as Denzel is so on point to maintain, that sometimes you forget about the whole religion theme, the bible, and all that stuff people seem to have such a problem with. I do wish there was a little more scenes with Denzel laying the smackdown on a few people. He has a mission that he is determined to carryout before he dies and nobody is going to stop him from reaching it. Not only does it have the action and the violence that mostly everyone enjoys, but you end up kind of getting drawn to Denzels character and feel drawn into to not just him, but gary oldman playing a fine villain who is determined to seize what denzel has and use it for his own greed and his own agenda. Also, it delivers the twist at the end that if you havent figured out the spoiler from the million other reviews, just makes you go "wow." It may not be the greatest movie ever made, but for what its worth, it is a good flick and is worth picking up or at least renting. But like I have said, if you USE AN OPEN MIND to watch this movie you might enjoy it a little more, just a thought.

(2012-04-29 15:55:15)

Great service!!!

This review is from: The Book of Eli (DVD) I received the DVD the same week I ordered it. It was a brand new copy of the video in the original wrapping. Great service.

Jens Wegar

(2012-04-28 23:50:14)

Great cinematography and sound

The story itself, when it all boils down to it, is fairly straightforward. There is the bad guy who wants something that the good guy canprovide. The inevitable showdown is also not very hard to predict. I dohowever like the biblical theme of the movie, which however might bewhat turns some people off. You can always trust Denzel to pull off a solid performance, althoughit wasn't anything spectacular either. I did like how his character wasa "I'll only tell you once" -type of guy. Mr. Oldman does a very goodjob as well as the main villain. The person I was positively surprisedabout was Mila Kunis. Before seeing this movie, I still had here in the"That 70's show" B-level comedy actor category, but this movie I thinkshowed that she has the talent to pull off more serious roles as well.What keeps pulling me back to this movie however are the visuals aidedby a very dynamic sound scape. The movie is quiet when it needs to be,ambient sounds are almost absent at times. It plays a soundtrack that Ifeel really supports the massive scale of the hero's quest only when itdoes not interfere with other events on screen. In other words, youwon't hear a fight scene backed up by a big band. Instead you'd onlyhear the wind over the desert and the sounds of the actual fight. Thisis one of the few movies where I've felt that the ambient sound and thevisuals supported each other well. I also liked the somewhat cold,colorless but contrast rich cinematography, which further helpedillustrate that it is a cruel world in which the people try to survive.

(2012-04-28 10:38:34)

Incredible

The music, the sound, the lighting, the setting... It all works together in this movie in such a way that you can see the world Eli lives in as if you were there. Whether you are religious or not, it doesn't matter. Anyone can enjoy this film and the amazing story that is told.If you enjoy Denzel Washington movies, you'll love it. If you enjoy movies with a strong protaganist, you'll love this movie. If you love seeing Gary Oldman as the bad guy, you'll definitely love this movie. Also, if you enjoy stories of faith... You'll love this movie. It's worth watching at least once.

gtz-28

(2012-04-25 04:56:46)

One of the greatest action movie I've ever seen.

This movie was a really good movie and had a very odd role for DenzelWashington. I love the fact that the movie never revealed the year itwas set in, but gave you hints as the movie continued. So you had toreally pay attention to understand the story. The movies plot didn'texplain anything about the movie so I was surprised when I found outthe movie was about a man that lives by the bible. I thought it wasinteresting because I am a Christian myself.I can't name another movie that is a action packed thriller that has aman that lives by the bible, so I think this movie was very originaland I will defiantly consider watching it again. Denzel Washington hasbeen one of my favorite actors for many years and really didn't thinkthat he could pull this one off but the man is a champion and excels atwhat he does.

(2012-04-24 07:44:40)

Dissappointed

This review is from: The Book of Eli (DVD) I thought that this movie would show more on the Faith side of things, but it only showed it one time during the first half of the movie and I am now returning it. Most of the first half of the movie is very brutal fighting with swords/guns and it's pretty graphic. Not something to show a kid. I was also dissappointed by Denzel Washington's performance. If you liked "Man on Fire", this movie has those brutal fighting scenes but takes it to the next level. The story of Man on Fire was also better than this movie. Some of the movie showed about Faith, but I felt it was just a total action movie with graphic scenes that are way too harsh for me. I thought "Man on Fire" was pretty bad when he cut the guys fingers off in the car, but this is like 10x worse. 2 Stars for praying at the table when they ate. :)

(2012-04-18 11:23:51)

Spoiler....not bad except for glaring mistake.

SPOILER... it wasn't a half bad apocalyptic movie until the surprise ending where it turns out that the King James Bible he was carrying around in his backpack was in braille. Apparently, the makers of this film were under the misguided impression that a braille version would be the same exact size as a smallish font print version when the reality is that the braille version has about 18 volumes and weighs about 70 pounds. In the end of the movie, he transcribes it to a group that had a printing press, and it is clear that it was a complete Bible. Oops.Still perhaps the book of Eli is an abridged version without all the unnecessary filler. He was being guided by God, so maybe all the parts that had been misinterpreted had been removed from the good book of Eli. Keep the 10 commandments and all the stuff about loving your neighbor and turning the other cheek, but maybe get rid of some of the animal sacrifice stuff. Alternatively, it could have simply been one volume like the book of Ester, and in the sequel the new post apocalyptic society then builds their religion around this one section of the bible.

(2012-04-17 21:46:00)

Waste of time

Pitiful and bogus is this post-apocalypse flop that lies sick and diseased in a ditch with it's gross twin, The Road. These movies are so extremely LAME that they have me wondering, is this going to be the trend? Given the sad state of mentality that allows for a terrorist to sit in the oval office, maybe we should expect drivel and tripe to rule the day.

(2012-04-17 03:33:41)

Very good film, beautiful.

This review is from: The Book of Eli (Amazon Instant Video) I had low expectations going into this but I was very pleased with the story, characters and mis en scene. Worth watching.

hkfroschauer

(2012-04-16 15:15:16)

One-dimensional, badly written, very disappointing

'The Book of Eli' is a post-apocalyptic road-movie that could have beenso much - but instead disappoints almost as soon as the opening sceneis finished.About 20 minutes into the movie I was speculating if this is anadaption based on a graphic novel, or (even worse) a computer-game: Thecharacters are one-dimensional, and grossly overdrawn - there's thehero (who's an unbeatable ninja-like warrior), the damsel in distress,and the evil-without-a-reason villain that could come right out of a70ies Italian Western (the entire setup is very Western-inspired).Those ingredients are sprinkled with alternating heavily color-gradedvisuals that interrupt the pace of the movie (if there is such a thinghere), and superhero-like fight-scenes, again without any discerniblemotivation apart from the villains being 'evil'.I see just about everything that's released, and I'm not just talkingmajor blockbusters - I usually refrain myself from writing reviews.'The Book of Eli' though disappointed my to a degree where I feel Ineed to write this, just to get closure... ;-) I was hoping for acommercial action-version of 'The Road', maybe with a little'Zombieland', but all I got was an evening with what in the end turnedout to be a badly written story about a religious fanatic willing tokill just about anyone standing in the way of re-publishing the bible.

hcice

(2012-04-15 18:59:39)

"The Book of Eli" – My Initial Thoughts

"The Book of Eli" is a story about a post-apocalyptic world in whichthe human race has been mostly wiped out. It has been 30 years since"the flash" and a few small, makeshift towns seem to have popped upagain. Eli (Denzel Washington) is a traveler who is heading west with abook he believes is the key to saving civilization. When he comesacross a small town run by Carnegie (Gary Oldman), Carnegie finds outabout the book and tries to take it from Eli at all costs. That'spretty much all I feel I can say about the movie without giving thingsaway.I really had no idea what to expect going in, but "The Book of Eli"ended up being a pretty good movie. I wouldn't say there was anythingspecial about it though. It simply kept me interested and drew me in towhere I really cared what happened to Eli, Solara (Mila Kunis), and thebook. The movie was pretty slow in a number of places, but the slownessdefinitely added to the suspense. My mind had time to race around andwonder how things were going to play out.There were only 3 small things that bugged me in the movie. First,overall the explosions and special effects were pretty well done. Therewas one place in particular though were a bomb was thrown next to acar. Instead of an explosion happening NEXT to the car though, anexplosion emanated from the inside center of the car. Second, therewere a couple of times where Solara (played by Mila Kunis who is thevoice of "Meg" on "Family Guy") was pleading with Eli in a whiny voice.Unfortunately, this "whiny voice" is the same voice she often uses for"Meg." It was enough to knock my train of thought out of the movie fora bit. Finally, the "great revelation" at the end of the movie was very"meh" in my opinion.Before I get into a final description that I see as containingspoilers, let me go ahead and give my overall rating for this movie. AsI stated, there was nothing really special about this movie, but theacting was good and it drew me in and made me care about what happenedto the characters. I give this movie a 7.5/10.*** POSSIBLE SPOILERS *** It becomes obvious pretty quick that the"book of Eli" is a copy of the Bible. After this is made clear,Carnegie (Oldman) gives a short speech about how religion is used tocontrol people and how the "weak and stupid" flock to it. I was worriedthat the movie was going to take a turn at this point and be nothingbut "look how bad and stupid religion is" in somewhat the same way as"The Invention of Lying" did. I really didn't want to sit throughanother movie that harped these points.Now, to be clear, I do believe that religion can easily be used as ameans to control the "weak and stupid" but that it is not true that"only the weak and stupid seek religion." Overall, the movie did a nicejob of showing that there are those who seek to use religion to gainpower and control people but then there are those who seek to usereligion to truly help others.

dmgruber1

(2012-04-15 02:51:09)

A Christian Man's Movie

First, this is a man's movie. Lot's of violence, guns and explosions,on top of great acting and beautiful photography. The beginning isstark and bleak and the director has created a nightmare world forthose left in it. Beware of reviews that pan this because of it's biblebent (even though that is not a pronounced as say "The Passion of theChrist") or lack of a Rambo or James Bond type Hero. The movie is deepand deals with a future reality that really isn't that far away. DenzelWashington is one of the great "everyman" actors. His character demandsyour empathy as Oldman's demands your disgust. My hope is that thismovie influences someone to pick up the Book and read it: for thosethat do not believe, cannot understand. Indeed, they will tell you thatthis isn't a very good movie at all.

(2012-03-25 15:01:56)

THE BEST MOVIE OF ALL

THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE. LOVE IT. I RENT IT AND NOW I AM GOING TO BUY IT TO WATCH IT AGAIN.

atticult

(2012-03-25 00:46:39)

The Book of Eli is NOT religious propaganda, it it a metaphor for Faith.

I signed up to write a review for this film after seeing how manypeople were claiming "religious propaganda." Different opinions aregreat and I respect them, but I think those people are completelymissing the point. "Faith" does not necessarily mean "Christianity." Iactually don't remember anyone saying "the Bible" in any scene either,making it ambiguous as to which religious book Eli had in hispossession. It's better actually to look at the book itself as Faith,rather than trying to label it, which is sort of a beautiful allegoryabout spirituality. We, as a society, have indeed labeled and separatedourselves instead of realizing the bigger picture, whatever that maybe. The movie also made a metaphor of the way corruption works withpower. Eli was a humble servant of his beliefs, while Oldman'scharacter only wanted the same power for selfish reasons... an old plotdevice, maybe, but this movie pulled it off with such finesse. The Bookof Eli is about realizing the bigger picture, I think... I wish peoplewouldn't automatically attach religion and Christianity to things soquickly when God or beliefs or faith is mentioned... Religion issmaller than that, and more bleak. Instead look at how beautiful thefeeling of purpose is versus satisfying ones own primal needs.

djestic03

(2012-03-19 01:43:20)

OTHER REVIEWS HAVE SPOILERS!!! Great movie!

The synopsis on this IMDb site is good/accurate, and I would not wantto add anything. One: Too many reviewers here are spilling the beans.The beauty of the movie--like The Sting--is the presentation...thedramatization of the elements. If these people are going to walk youthrough it, they've wasted your time.Two: too many reviews betray the reviewer's anti-God/religion bias.Similarly, I would never review a 'chick flick' or'sorcery/wizards/vampire' movie, or feel my input was worth anything.If religion, God, or teachings from the Bible turn you into a rage atthe lunacy of believers, you will be wasting your time with this movie. When it ended, I nearly rushed to this site for further discussion andexploration of philosophies. This is not just an apocalyptic actionmovie (like Mad Max), but a think piece. An imaginative story,compelling action and direction, great photography and design, andextremely well acted by Denzel Washington and Gary Oldham. Some heresaid it was slow. Hardly: it's intense and we learn more about themysterious stranger as it unfolds.

(2012-03-18 11:21:02)

The only people that don't like this movie are CHRISTIAN HATERS

It was a relief to watch a movie that was not afraid to use the bible as their foundation. This used to be a faithful nation, but now we have become a non religious wasteland. The founding fathers were christian, yet today, we get rebuked for sayin the name if JESUS. We allow muslims to come to our country and tell us we cant say JESUS because it is against our constitiution. Seperation of church and state means that we can not have a state religion. Thats all it means, and for all the ignorant out there, they need to read a history book. A real history book. The book of ELI was fantastic and I wish more movie makers were not afraid to make a movie based on the TRUTH. We were based on the bible and we should always respect it. If the muslim people do not like it, then why don't they go back to the middle east and be with their people. There is one reason why the United States is the lone superpower. GENESIS 12:3. If you want to know why it is, open the BOOK OF ELI and read it.

apmega

(2012-03-17 12:44:49)

The 'oh-my-god' movie

The book of 'my god' (Hebrew for Eli) starts as just anotherapocalyptic trailer, but quickly evolves into a religious/epic missiontale that makes very little sense. For some reason, the evil needs thebible to rule the town. Why???? Have the writer never heard of minorreligious sects like the Catholic church, where people would come everySunday to hear the priest reading verses in Latin? As far as they newhe could have been reading the Koran or a roman cook book. You reallydon't need the bible to establish a religion. You really don't needanything to keep the existing religion. That's why it also doesn't makesense that people somehow forgot Christianity. If anything, religiousspirit only increases during crisis. Oh, yes, there is Eli, bullets andswords don't harm him as he protected by god. If only god could reallyprotect his prophets like that, that would make bible stories ratherdifferent.

Lee Alon

(2012-03-16 22:00:57)

Reads great

The post apocalyptic parable helmed by the Hughes brothers and pennedby iconic 80's and 90's gaming journo Gary Whitta manages to excel inspite of itself. To begin with, it's too short. It's one thing to leavepeople wanting more, another to tell an impressive story and hamper itby opting for a short runtime. Book of Eli (BoE) could have used a goodadded hour to work its magic, and it hurts that it didn't get it.Then there's the setting, which is a sort of cross between recent TheRoad and Mad Max. This is an intelligent end of the world story,replete with little tips of the hat and clues, but the setting couldhave done with so much more depth. Too bad we didn't get to review moreof Eli's world.The titular character is a walker, heading west in a devastated world,ruined by "the war". Eli is on a mission, and his purpose stems from abook he's carrying, a powerful tome that's the last of its kind onearth, presumably. If the movie had any illusions that audiences wouldbe unable to guess as to the nature of this book, of course it was wayoff. And here's another reason BoE succeeds despite itself – it's analtogether religious affair, but it's never preachy. The story promotesfaith and the place of goodness in humanity, the role of the chosen fewfacing hordes of mindless, disposable, well, scum for lack of a betterword. So while it's too hasty and dabbles in the taboo of religiouspersuasion, BoE is still a good motion picture worth the time and mindpower it'll take to properly appreciate it.Eli is played by Denzel Washington, who's always good, but shines asthe humble and reclusive wasteland walker. As Eli traverses a destroyedAmerica, he encounters bandits and ruffians, so we learn that the manis pretty handy in combat of all sorts. He also packs an iPod, has abackpack with one of those "Hello my name is" stickers in it, andcarries a locked copy of the most important book in the movie'sreality.Eli tries to balance his desire to protect the good people who'vesurvived the cataclysm with his need to be on his way, which presentsdilemmas time and again, until he reaches a small town controlled byboss Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman). Carnegie is a character, driven bypower lust and a vision of reclaiming the world – and so he needs someinspiration for the slobbering illiterates he oversees. Eli's bookseems a logical choice, and so Carnegie's demand that the volume behanded over puts the two into a position of conflict.There are no easy fixes in BoE, this isn't a cut and paste action job,so don't expect a happy ending. And while the cinematography isgorgeous and the soundtrack by Atticus Ross is a moving work ofbrilliant verve and emotive impact, what really wins us over about thisfilm are the numerous anecdotal insights into what or who Eli reallyis. The movie keeps toying with viewers, suggesting all manner ofmutually exclusive ideas about the lead character, and it's delightful.It's also shy about telling us what happened to the world, which isalways pleasant titillation in a genre piece like this. There are noinfo dumps per se in BoE – something we applaud.Back to the acting, Eli's main ally, Solara (done by Mila Kunis) is ahuge disappointment. She either doesn't get the canvass she needs togrow, or perhaps the entire character was flat from the outset. Eitherway, we didn't warm up to her at all, but Oldman's rendition of themain antagonist is interesting, suggesting a complex person whowarrants further investigation. There's also a wonderful supportingrole by Ray Stevenson (Punisher War Zone and Rome), who does Carnegie'schief enforcer in a decidedly multi-dimensional manner. Kudos to himand to Jennifer Beals, portraying Carnegie's woman with considerableskill.Go into Book of Eli expecting to be intrigued, and you'll be rewarded.It's a tale that forces you to think about it, but at the same time itisn't epic. This last issue has more to do with the limited span andtime allotted to the adventure, but it's nonetheless the way thingspanned out. BoE doesn't mask its religious agenda one bit, which forsome odd reason feels very right because it's never hamfisted or cheesylike other movies that try to integrate faith into proceedings.However, it could have done with more room to fully develop and explainto us just why we need to listen.As for the possibility of a sequel, since only Mila Kunis' characterseems to have made it, we say, please no, no sequel. But a prequelwould be great.Overall recommended for intelligent storytelling, some great acting anda superb presentation.

(2012-03-16 17:20:15)

Didnt expect much, but it was actually pretty good

For a post apocalyptic movie, it was pretty good. Not the best as one reviewer said. I would have to give that one to 'The Road Warrior'.There is plenty of action and a moral to the story, which each person can judge for themselves. The casting was very good and Mila Kunis is definitely easy on the eyes.The very ending is kinda hokey, but so are most action movies. Very good rental in my opinion.

(2012-03-15 19:13:30)

Adolescent Christian Teen Fantasy

Teen Christian geek story - one gets to maim and kill evil people while on a mission for God in a post-apocalyptic United States. The unattainable, beautiful, worldly-but-good girl offers herself to you, you decline her favors nobly, and in the end, rescue her from the evil that surrounds her. The "others" are undeniably evil, through and through, and scary enough to make them worthy foes for your superhuman martial arts skills. Since they are unredeemable, it isn't a sin but a duty to slaughter them in droves, once they force you to kill again. At the end you complete your mission and provide an element essential to the future redemption of the world. Your chief enemy, the only one who wasn't a moron, gets his comeuppance. After you die, the beautiful, worldly-but-good girl, whose previous life skills were limited to remembering where the water was stored, is mystically transformed (by your Christian nobility) into a warrior princess who ventures alone back into darkness. Sequel, anyone?Oh, yes, and a twist or two at the end that one could see a mile off.Cardboard characters, no human motivation or character development in evidence.A lot of very talented actors in a story that's been overdone and better done in multiple Westerns and martial arts films and, even, video games.