I don't know why, but I just love apocalyptic / post-apocalyptic movies and literature. Some of my favorite movies fall in this category, and I tend to be very lenient toward the genre as a whole when judging individual works. Needless to say, then, I was excited to see The Book of Eli after hearing comments from friends. After having seen it, I'm finding it hard to let my traditional leniency win over my one big gripe, though. If you haven't seen this movie yet and you don't want to have the ending revelation spoiled for you, do not read past this paragraph until after you watch it. Let me assure you, though, the revelation was pretty lame, and I now wish someone had spoiled it for me beforehand so I could have just pretended that wasn't part of the movie.
Admittedly, the movie was pretty brutal in its portrayal of what life would be like in a post-nuclear world. It did have a resonance of truth to it, though, and certainly seemed more authentic a vision than the world of Mad Max. The main character, Eli, is believable enough, despite his unexplained ability to take down a crowd with a sword without suffering so much as a scratch. He's a dead-eye marksman with a firearm and pretty sweet with a bow and arrow as well. These are just 3 reasons why the revelation is so ridiculous. Blind? Really? Come on, folks, you can do better than that.
I appreciate a plot twist as much as the next guy. I remember the "Aha!" moments in The Usual Suspects and Sixth Sense. They left me thinking, "Brilliant! That explains everything!" The Book of Eli, on the other hand, left me thinking, "Hey, you lied to me!" The script tried so hard to disguise his blindness that they actually put in countersigns like those listed above that no blind person in a million years could ever pull off. Only with divine intervention could such feats be possible, but they don't ever give any real indication that he is being guarded and guided by the hand of God. True, he tells the girl that he heard a voice and followed it, but that is as close as we get to any kind of explanation along those lines, and there is nothing in the script to concretely back that up.
The really ridiculous part of it all is that they could have just left out the blind revelation and the movie would have been an entertaining post-apocalyptic movie without it. Instead, they drop this bombshell that is so unbelievable that it spoils the entire movie for me. Had there been some obvious (in hindsight) setup, I might not be so disappointed, but the only real hint I can remember was the scene where he holds the iPod up to his ear and tries to turn it on when the battery is dead. If I watch it again, I'm sure I will spot some other subtle hints, but a revelation like this has to immediately bring to the mind of the viewer a lot of scenes to make it believable.
I appreciate the effort to make an interesting script, but I just can't get behind this movie after feeling lied to. Come on Hollywood, you must have better writers than this?
2 comments:
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Anonymous: I assume this comment is a set up for a scam, much like the "poetry contests" are really just fake contests that uses authors' egos against themselves to trick them into buying the anthology book. If so, don't bother following up because I'm expecting a scam anyway. If, by chance, this is legit, click the "Visit my site" link in the left sidebar and use the methods of contact listed on my site.
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