I have to admit, I don't have any interest in post-apocalyptic movies anymore. They're all the same. The weakened rabble of humanity scraping through bits of dirt and dust for scraps of food. A lone traveler wandering the blasted countryside, single-handedly fighting thugs, rapists and murderers, inspiring the peasantry as he passes. The traveler carries the special secret that will save humanity, and will collect an assortment of ill-fitting allies who will help him on his way to an unknown destination.
Yawn.
Perhaps in the old days, apocalyptic movies were interesting. When times are good, a post- apocalyptic thriller is tense, thrilling, scary, and exciting. Today, in a world with suicide bombers, religious warriors, right-wing zealots, oppressive governments, and failed economies, I'm kinda looking forward to the apocalypse. Hell, when it comes, I'll grab a lawn chair and a 6-pack and sit on the roof and watch it coming. It's hard to be afraid of an apocalypse when humanity certainly doesn't seem worth saving.
Without fear as an element in a post-apocalyptic film, all that's left is the ridiculous. And "Eli" has plenty of that. You've seen it all before. The lone traveler is an uber-fighter of spectacular prowess, able to defeat masses of scruffy, overweight thugs with barely a scratch. How can people in a post-apocalyptic nightmare be obese anyway? There will be beautifully-coifed women to entice the scruffy traveler. Nice to know salons stay in business after the end of the world. There will be strange old people with a mysterious arsenal of weapons. I had no idea grenades would work after 30 years, and their firing mechanisms would still be so accurate to enable precision throwing at moving vehicle. In all these ways, and more, "Eli" is ridiculous.
But there is something special buried in the middle of "Eli". The hero is escorting the last copy of the Bible to some unknown destination. This sounds incredibly weak. "Oh, the Bible is the only thing that can save us!" Pardon me while I lose my cookies in the lobby. But "Eli" does something unexpected: it actually manages to weave some very interesting socio- religious commentary in there. At times, it is very pro-Christian message, how the Bible can bring hope to the masses. At other times, it points out how religion can be used by the shady to control the ignorant masses. This shift weaves in and out of the screenplay, especially in the second half. It's often obvious and forced, but it's occasionally subtle and sublime. And then something very interesting happens at the end: the Bible, that supposed savior of mankind, is neatly bound and shelved in a museum in a fortress on a island. Is this the final commentary of the filmmakers, that the Bible (like the Torah and the Quran and other religious texts) is, in the end, as useful to helping people in need as a glass-cased artifact in a museum? And that it's up to strong willed people willing to wade back into the sloppy fray and help?
You can read more or less into "Eli" than I did. Some folks, I'm sure, will read it one way, others will read it another. Some won't care about any "message", there are plenty of explosions and fights and ass-kicking for those folks. Others will see this as a pure pro- religion message (I could see busloads of Christians coming to see the film a la "Passion of the Christ"). Others will revel in the film's anti-religious message, seeing it as a tool for control and the destined cause of the earth's destruction. I guess that's an endearing part of "Eli", you can probably make your interpretations, or even none at all.
Giving it a 7 out of 10. It would be a 5 if it weren't for these interesting socio-religious facets of the script.
Yawn.
Perhaps in the old days, apocalyptic movies were interesting. When times are good, a post- apocalyptic thriller is tense, thrilling, scary, and exciting. Today, in a world with suicide bombers, religious warriors, right-wing zealots, oppressive governments, and failed economies, I'm kinda looking forward to the apocalypse. Hell, when it comes, I'll grab a lawn chair and a 6-pack and sit on the roof and watch it coming. It's hard to be afraid of an apocalypse when humanity certainly doesn't seem worth saving.
Without fear as an element in a post-apocalyptic film, all that's left is the ridiculous. And "Eli" has plenty of that. You've seen it all before. The lone traveler is an uber-fighter of spectacular prowess, able to defeat masses of scruffy, overweight thugs with barely a scratch. How can people in a post-apocalyptic nightmare be obese anyway? There will be beautifully-coifed women to entice the scruffy traveler. Nice to know salons stay in business after the end of the world. There will be strange old people with a mysterious arsenal of weapons. I had no idea grenades would work after 30 years, and their firing mechanisms would still be so accurate to enable precision throwing at moving vehicle. In all these ways, and more, "Eli" is ridiculous.
But there is something special buried in the middle of "Eli". The hero is escorting the last copy of the Bible to some unknown destination. This sounds incredibly weak. "Oh, the Bible is the only thing that can save us!" Pardon me while I lose my cookies in the lobby. But "Eli" does something unexpected: it actually manages to weave some very interesting socio- religious commentary in there. At times, it is very pro-Christian message, how the Bible can bring hope to the masses. At other times, it points out how religion can be used by the shady to control the ignorant masses. This shift weaves in and out of the screenplay, especially in the second half. It's often obvious and forced, but it's occasionally subtle and sublime. And then something very interesting happens at the end: the Bible, that supposed savior of mankind, is neatly bound and shelved in a museum in a fortress on a island. Is this the final commentary of the filmmakers, that the Bible (like the Torah and the Quran and other religious texts) is, in the end, as useful to helping people in need as a glass-cased artifact in a museum? And that it's up to strong willed people willing to wade back into the sloppy fray and help?
You can read more or less into "Eli" than I did. Some folks, I'm sure, will read it one way, others will read it another. Some won't care about any "message", there are plenty of explosions and fights and ass-kicking for those folks. Others will see this as a pure pro- religion message (I could see busloads of Christians coming to see the film a la "Passion of the Christ"). Others will revel in the film's anti-religious message, seeing it as a tool for control and the destined cause of the earth's destruction. I guess that's an endearing part of "Eli", you can probably make your interpretations, or even none at all.
Giving it a 7 out of 10. It would be a 5 if it weren't for these interesting socio-religious facets of the script.