Book of Eli
Olly and I finally got our "date" last week. We went to see a movie in town, and we ended up choosing Book of Eli. It had terrible reviews on RT, especially compared to alternatives, but it was not a bad pick for a theatre view.
Mini-review: It looked really really good. This is my lasting impression from it- some great shots, pretty awesome post-apoc scenery and costuming, and just little things that made Olly and I drool with our post-apoc craziness. The script, however, was lacking. It needed another layer or two of depth, some of the lines were pretty cliche, and it was extremely rushed at the end. Lines you could forgive because most of the dialogue that matters is coming from Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman, and you don't notice it as much because they're good enough to cover it up. In terms of the actual premise, I liked it. There was a point in the middle where I thought it was coming across heavy-handed and I wasn't so sure about the whole thing, but the resolution left me happy enough with the premise as a whole. I usually like movies that tie up all the loose strings- or at least the ones you will be really wondering about. This movie tied one string it didn't need to, and with probably the worst line in the movie, but that's probably my biggest beef. The action was amazingly choreographed, but there wasn't a lot. Probably 2-3 good hand-to-hand fights and a couple other good scenes, but on a whole this wasn't an action movie, so don't expect it to be. I was, and was disappointed. I'd gone to the theatre for an action movie and I probably should have seen Sherlock Holmes in that case, but I don't regret the decision to watch this movie. I would recommend if you like post-apoc, but not if you can't get past a few bad lines.
Mini-review: It looked really really good. This is my lasting impression from it- some great shots, pretty awesome post-apoc scenery and costuming, and just little things that made Olly and I drool with our post-apoc craziness. The script, however, was lacking. It needed another layer or two of depth, some of the lines were pretty cliche, and it was extremely rushed at the end. Lines you could forgive because most of the dialogue that matters is coming from Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman, and you don't notice it as much because they're good enough to cover it up. In terms of the actual premise, I liked it. There was a point in the middle where I thought it was coming across heavy-handed and I wasn't so sure about the whole thing, but the resolution left me happy enough with the premise as a whole. I usually like movies that tie up all the loose strings- or at least the ones you will be really wondering about. This movie tied one string it didn't need to, and with probably the worst line in the movie, but that's probably my biggest beef. The action was amazingly choreographed, but there wasn't a lot. Probably 2-3 good hand-to-hand fights and a couple other good scenes, but on a whole this wasn't an action movie, so don't expect it to be. I was, and was disappointed. I'd gone to the theatre for an action movie and I probably should have seen Sherlock Holmes in that case, but I don't regret the decision to watch this movie. I would recommend if you like post-apoc, but not if you can't get past a few bad lines.