Book of Eli...A Statement...?

Time and time again Hollywood finds a way to make films that shove liberal and secular politics down the throat of the American people. We are continually made to watch movies with no moral direction and no disguise for the sleazy content that has been made acceptable by their standards. I find it repulsive to have to hear young girls wanting to listen to the music from RENT and dancing like they do in Chicago! Not only has the moral principle been thrown out the window, but the Hollywood love affair with immorality has been jammed down our throats over and over again. The invention of the parental rating system was to ensure that young children did not have to bear witness to the wonderful world of the dirty adult mind! ...apparently someone forgot that along the way and this is why we have 6 and 7 year old kids running around insulting people on a high school level. 


Anyway, the point that I've been trying to get to is that "The Book of Eli" is an aberration! Not that there are no swear words or graphic content in this movie, but the focal point of the entire plot is religion and morality! Our hero struggles with killing people. He lives his life by a moral standard that has quite frankly been forgotten in America. He not only prays before he eats...he also remembers to read his bible everyday! There are so few of us, not I and not anyone I know other than my own mother literally do those things. 


Eli mixes the action with the important statement it makes very well. I had high yet very shaky hopes for this movie and quite honestly I was blown away! I did not expect it to hit home so hard and make the impact that it made. It is very hard to watch a movie objectively but I tried very hard to do so with this one and try to nit pick the things that I could, the problem was, this one was just very well put together and it didn't come close to disappointing me. In fact I couldn't find anything to really point to and say that this is where they messed it up! The message is clear and it was not one of those "we're gonna show you the outline and then let you draw your own conclusions...blah blah blah"! We've seen all those before...this one was different. The Book of Eli really and truly drove the message home and hit the audience quite frankly between the eyes! 


Not to mention that Denzel Washington turns in a brilliant performance as usual. He dominates every second he is on the screen, he demands your attention and creates a character worth identifying with and caring for and even loving. Denzel is the hero of this flick, not just because of the way he wields his sword but because of the way he conducts himself in a respectful and caring manor. Throughout the film his character is given the opportunity to slip up and let down his guard and lose that moral compass which keeps him so centered the entire movie. Yet, he refuses to let his human nature get the best of him. He truly conducts himself in a way a good man of the Word would. 

This movie makes a statement and it makes it loud and clear and effectively! Unlike any movie I have ever seen this one takes a definitive moral stand against the Hollywood grain and finds its own ground to stand on. Some movies have come close, but this one truly hit the mark and went all the way. This was good vs. evil and you never doubted who you were rooting for. The hero "Eli" was the good guy no doubt in anyones mind. A lot of times Hollywood frowns on movies that give favorable thought to religion and morals. Just ask The Boondock Saints about that...they've had two movies now that have been ravaged and torn to shreds by the Peter Travers of the world. Travers said this of Eli "The Book of Eli isn't as exciting or funny or inspiring as it wants to be, and its preachy ending is an ordeal." 

Um Excuse me but "its preachy ending is an ordeal"? what's the ordeal? You see, these guys are so upset and flustered that the Bible (because its a Christian book) is looked upon in such a positive light...in fact I believe it sickens them to their core to actually think that Hollywood made a movie that stars the Bible as a good thing! 

Rotten Tomatoes gives Eli a rotten 46% while the users rated the movie 83% fresh! Its the same thing as The Boondock Saints movies: the first, only 16% RT rating...while 1369 people gave it a fresh rating for a total of 83% user rating! wow...the second movie, the critics gave it a 13% rating while the people gave it an 80% rating! 

It is unbelievable the kind of content that people outside of Hollywood actually enjoy. Movies that deal with religion respectfully are almost always well liked by the public...and hated by the critics. The fact that Denzel Washington was behind this movie is the main reason it has worked out at the box office. I guarantee you that The Book of Eli finds massive support from the underground following just as The Boondock Saints movies have. Maybe not as big...but people will buy this when it is released and people will show it to their friends and people will like it...no matter what the critics and the people who "know better than us" say, word of mouth will make this movie better than they want it to be because thats exactly what it is...better than Hollywood wanted it to be!