Movie Review: "The Book of Eli"

Overall rating: 9.0 out of 10; Highly recommended

Very few action films will encourage you to think in any deep fashion. Most of them only have the naked bones of a story and uninspiring characters, making their way through a checklist of the tropes common to this genre: fiery explosions, a high body count, a hot and sultry leading lady, and enough guns to make a Texan hunter say, "Aren't you being a little excessive?"

But, as a delightful treat for the dismal (in terms of movies) month of January, The Book of Eli refuses to be counted among the masses of mediocrity. In what looks at first glance like yet another post-apocalyptic thriller, a la The Road, Eli shows a great deal of quality and originality not in avoiding cliches, but in using and altering them to create a film not quite like any that have come before it. The story may be simple, but it is much more deep than broad, providing the viewer an astonishing level of meaning, insights and questions with its meager helpings of characters, setting and story arc.

Denzel Washington gives one of his best performances (quite an accomplishment in itself) as Eli, a man roaming what is left of western American three decades after a nuclear war has wiped out most of humanity. Having to fend off dehydration and the occasional gang of diseased rapists and cannibals, Eli carries - and reads on a daily basis - what may be the last remaining copy of the Bible. There are some references made to the book inspiring religious fanaticism and causing the aforementioned war, and to the survivors' subsequent efforts to destroy any copies of the Scriptures they could get their hands on. But Eli has discovered this one, and claims to hear the voice of God, telling him to go west to take the book to a place of safety, and whispering promises to Eli of divine protection during his journey.

Of course, no hero would be complete without a villain to match him, and Gary Oldman proves more than able to step up to the task. Oldman plays Carnegie, the mayor/dictator of a little town somewhere in the desert, surrounded by gun-toting henchmen and twisting everyone around his finger. Also, he seems to be the only literate man in a community mostly made of people born after the nuclear war. Though he makes reading a habit, he seeks a Bible in particular, especially for the extra power and manipulation it would grant him as a leader. He himself speaks of how the Bible, due to its history and effect on people's minds and hearts, could give him control over the weak, desperate souls lingering on a dying planet. He's rather like a Mad Max version of a televangelist. And when Eli steps into town for water and to recharge a portable battery, Carnegie comes to learn of the book he guards (and his considerable fighting skills). Sparks fly and blood spills when Eli becomes the one man Carnegie cannot bargain with, manipulate, or sidetrack from a God-given mission out west. The two men are then locked into a lethal tug-of-war over this one very important book.

The Book of Eli joins The Passion of the Christ and Signs as one of the greatest "secular Christian" films Hollywood has produced in a very long time. The pacing can be a little slow at times, but I felt like this was done on purpose, to give the audience a chance to think about the topics this movie deals with while simultaneously watching its story unfold. And even if these points in the film are too slow for you, the spectacular action scenes more than make up for it. And though I would have liked to have seen the characters developed just a little more, I found them amazing all the same. The way this movie is set up, I really could buy that we were just now finding the characters in this particular moment in their lives, that they had a past and lives before the opening credits.

Denzel's Eli is the perfect example of the kind of hero I want to see in more movies: imperfect and questioning of the violence he inflicts on others (even when it is only to protect himself or the Bible he carries), but resolute in his convictions and unfailingly polite to the people who aren't trying to kill him or relieve him of his few possessions. Oldman steals every scene he is in. Carnegie drips with quiet menace every moment he is on screen, even when things are going his way, and his villain is an ingenious creation, his personality the abuse and cruelty of a warlord combined with the etiquette and mannerisms of a Southern Gentleman.

Pay no heed to the mixed or hostile reactions most critics are aiming at this movie. Take, for instance, the supposedly "clumsy" or "ill-placed" themes of religion and its abuse in The Book of Eli. When a critic says a movie's reach exceeds its grasp (in terms of the issues a movie tries to deal with), they usually mean that they went into the theater expecting a mindless action flick, and if the film manages to be a little smarter and more high-concept than they assumed, the critic's brain short circuits and they attribute this to a lack of quality in the movie they are evaluating. Far from handling the religious subtexts with butterfingers, Eli makes them vital to the climax and the overall story.

One of the film's greatest surprises is Mila Kunis. Best known for her work as Jackie from That 70s Show and the voice of Meg from Family Guy, Kunis stars as Carnegie's stepdaughter who becomes fast friends with Eli, and strikes the right balance between "feisty" and "restrained." Her turn from playing teen girls with low self-esteem has been criminally undersold by most of the critics, and even if her performance isn't Oscar caliber, her acting never once distracted me from the story.

Of course, some have decried a major plot twist at the end, a sudden insight which has even led Roger Ebert, in a rare but ludicrous misstep, to write off the film's third act as "goofy." While it may not be the kind of twist most trained film commentators will enjoy, I will say this about the huge turn in the story: It makes perfect sense, if one accepts that Eli truly is hearing the voice of God and accepting His instruction. The movie, in other ways, has already made it quite clear that Eli is not insane, acting on a hunch, or just making things up. Something or Someone is guiding his path. The majority of critics are used to assuming (and a movie's climax confirming their assumption) that a character who claims to talk to God is either schizophrenic, or is having a vaguely-defined "religious experience" that may or may not be a character's meeting with the Almighty. And often (though not always, of course), they will throw scorn upon a film if it dares to assume that the religious kook was right all along. All I will say is that, if someone can accept divine intervention in a story when the Nazis' faces melt off in Raiders of the Lost Ark, it should be even more acceptable if a story allows God to talk to someone, even if it's only in a "still, small voice."

I give this film my highest recommendation. If you can get past the R rating, and the rolling heads, language and a scene of attempted rape which earn it, this is one of the most thoughtful and awesome action films to come out of Hollywood in ages.

Book Review: "The Muse" by Fred Warren

Overall Rating: 7.5 out of 10; Recommended

I was quite privileged to meet author Fred Warren a few weeks ago, when myself and a couple of fellow writers coalesced at the local Panera Bread to hang out and chat. It was at that meeting where I purchased a copy of his debut novel, entitled The Muse, a work which proved to be original and thought-provoking, while containing well-rounded characters, a solid story, and a couple of genuine surprises. In other words, The Muse has all you can ask for in a good fantasy story. It's a relatively short work, only around 50,000 words, so next time you find yourself on a long flight, camping for a weekend, or being dragged along on a road trip, it gives a great opportunity to step out of the world's monotony for a short season.

"What if inspiration could kill?" That is the question lying under the book's cover. Warren explores a subject most other writers overlook with surprising frequency. His work is, among other things, a fictional meditation on the stubbornness of writer's block, and the nature of human artistry and creativity. His protagonist, Stan Marino, is a fantasy writer who has formed a group with fellow scribes Jilly (who pens gothic vampire tales) and Davos (who has a penchant for hard science fiction). The group's chuckle-worthy name, The Seventh Circle of Hell, is entirely too fitting for its three members, since they all have written their stories into a corner and haven't the slightest idea of how to escape. But then along comes a mousy young woman, who sets herself up as the writers' "muse." She begins to give them ideas that shatter their writer's block, while working to connect them with some big-time publishing deals. Soon, her contributions to the group define the cliche "too good to be true", and Stan's wife begins to sense something amiss with their newest member. Before they realize what is truly at stake, the Seventh Circle stumble into a fight for their lives, where imagination is the only weapon they have.

Rarely have I seen a writer create a story about another writer, and where the writing process itself drives the narrative, the theme, and the conflict. Warren deserves some real credit for building that kind of story, even while he manages to keep things interesting.

Some readers may find the book's beginning a tad too quiet and slow. I don't mind if Warren takes his time setting up the characters and showing their regular lives and day-to-day struggles before plunging into the fantasy element, but it felt as if he were focusing on too few parts of Stan's life for too long. Stan is barely acknowledged as having a day job to support his family, and his young daughter doesn't get much time onstage until the last third of the novel. Still, in what there is, Warren does a great job of establishing the relationships between Stan and his wife (there is plenty of romance between them, but it never feels sappy or corny), and between Stan and Jilly and Davos (his description of how writers interact in a tightly knit group is quite accurate). The characters breathe; they feel like real people, something which is very hard to pull off in a debut novel. But most of the time, Warren does just fine in helping them seem alive. In fact, the only complaint I had about the character interactions would lie in the dialogue. Whenever the characters talk at length about dilemmas they face, or they elaborate on something, their words become rather dry and unnatural; they grasp the full context of a situation entirely too soon. It is in these moments where I lost the sense of immediacy, of being in the character's head. They lose their distinctive voices, and all take on the same voice, and end up commenting on what's happening to them, instead of actually existing in that moment.

Despite my gripes, I thoroughly enjoyed Warren's book. Any reader will be rewarded by the sense of humor, a villain who is confident but patient, and some truly cool highlights. At one point Stan and his friends must survive by cooperating with many other people who have been thrown into similar peril, and this scene can only be described as "nerdtastic," like your most awesome daydreams come to life.

He even makes the courageous decision to give The Muse a bittersweet ending, one which comes as an honest surprise. Warren throws the reader a major twist and continues to play fair with the rules he has set up beforehand. To be honest, I thought the semi-tragedy could stand to have a greater punch-in-the-gut feeling, and the characters' struggles to come to terms with it are mostly glossed over in the book's last chapters (understandable, since the main conflict has been solved by that point, and the story needs to wrap up). But the fact that Warren, as a first time novelist, handled it as well as he did speaks to his talent as a storyteller, and the potential his work carries.

So, again, I will heartily recommend Fred Warren's book (you can buy it on Amazon), and I already plan to watch his writing career with interest. More if you please, Mr. Warren.

Do-Over

Well, it's been entirely too long since my previous post. But I declare a do-over, and will now work hard to make Scribes and Bards better-known on the internet, and serve all of you readers to the best of my ability. Hope you will stick around, now.

Kindest regards,

John K. Patterson

The Introduction

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen (and everyone in between) to The Sixth Chair. This is the official blog for the Scribes and Bards writing workshop at the East Library in Colorado Springs, Colorado. And I must say, we couldn't be more delighted that you have paid a visit. As time goes on, notes, writing samples and tips for fellow storytellers shall be added. I will try to keep up with regular updates, and hopefully we can benefit you, the reader, in the process.

Take care and God bless, my friends!

Kindest regards,

John K. Patterson