"The Book of Eli"

This movie was a lot better than I expected to be. I think the plan for this blog was a place to sort of encapsulate my thoughts on different pop culture experiences with short, critical missives. I'm going to try to refocus on that.

SO: the film. This movie is trying pretty hard to capture a sort of cultural zeitgeist. It's got a lot of the post-apocalyptic vision and dusty despair that we see a lot in movies nowadays, but it also has a sort of general uplifting conclusion that relies on the force of some fundamental humanity. It's a set-up that is pretty common in recent future-movies (I would argue since "Children of Men").

And "Eli" handles it well. It doesn't have any severe missteps, and it does have some really interesting stuff in it. It's got a twist ending that feels entirely useless and makes the whole thing seem even more superficial than it might have already been.

What I mean is this: "Children of Men" handles the "redemption of post-disaster society through common humanity" in a subtle, effective, affecting, emotionally resonant way. "Eli" wants to do this, but when all is said and done, it feels more like a tale of a bad-ass unlikely hero, the story using its premise as a crutch for this hero.

So on the whole, the thing is enjoyable, visually pretty striking (with moments better than even "The Road"), and not fundamentally flawed. But like so many movies, you can't help but feel like no matter how enjoyable the ride might have been, you've still sort of been tricked into taking a kind of pointless trip.