Liberty is an inherently offensive lifestyle. Living in a free society guarantees that each one of us will see our most cherished principles and beliefs questioned and in some cases mocked. That psychic discomfort is the price we pay for basic civic peace. It's worth it. It's a pragmatic principle. Defend everyone else's rights, because if you don't there is no one to defend yours. -- MaxedOutMama

I don't just want gun rights... I want individual liberty, a culture of self-reliance....I want the whole bloody thing. -- Kim du Toit

The most glaring example of the cognitive dissonance on the left is the concept that human beings are inherently good, yet at the same time cannot be trusted with any kind of weapon, unless the magic fairy dust of government authority gets sprinkled upon them.-- Moshe Ben-David

The cult of the left believes that it is engaged in a great apocalyptic battle with corporations and industrialists for the ownership of the unthinking masses. Its acolytes see themselves as the individuals who have been "liberated" to think for themselves. They make choices. You however are just a member of the unthinking masses. You are not really a person, but only respond to the agendas of your corporate overlords. If you eat too much, it's because corporations make you eat. If you kill, it's because corporations encourage you to buy guns. You are not an individual. You are a social problem. -- Sultan Knish

All politics in this country now is just dress rehearsal for civil war. -- Billy Beck

Saturday, January 16, 2010

How Did THAT Happen?


Taking advantage of my last weekday as an unemployed person, I caught the first matinee showing of The Book of Eli at the local googleplex Friday. It is another of this year's crop of apocalyptic films that began (humorously) with Zombieland, went craptacular with 2012, then ultra-depressing with The Road.

Interestingly, Eli could be seen as a sort of sequel to The Road. The apocalypse that The Man and The Boy trudge through in The Road occurred only ten years previously. In Eli it's thirty years in the past. Both movies are filmed in very muted colors, and in both films the majority of human beings shown are amoral predators. In this one, however, the main character travels, initially, alone - and he is ultra-competent at defending himself and his possessions. I'll give the Hughes brothers credit - the action scenes are very well done.

There are, of course, plot holes big enough to drive a Mack truck through, but if you're willing to suspend disbelief and go with it the story is pretty good. Gary Oldman does a fine job of playing the same character he played in The Fifth Element and The Professional - a whacked-out power-crazed nutjob. Jennifer Beals' hair puts in a nice appearance, and Mila Kunis did her job as the apprentice seeking protection and knowledge from the Master. The sets were sufficiently post-apocalypty, but I wonder why there were two concrete cooling towers out in the desert with nothing else around them?

The interesting thing about the film, however, was its pro-Christian message. How did that happen? Of course, there's a scene that puts it all in "perspective," in the end, but the plot twist at the climax carries a significant message that only the deaf, blind and stupid could miss.

I give it about 8.5 out of 10. Definitely not a waste of my time or my money.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.